Following last year’s successful Looe Saves the Day festival, the town is staging a brand new event for 2019. Looe Live! will take place between Friday, September 20, and Sunday, September 22.

With additional stages, more local acts and street entertainers performing throughout the town, and a new community zone, there will be even more on offer for local people and visitors to enjoy.

The festival may have a new name and a new logo, but organisers promise that Looe Live! 2019 will provide the same fantastic mix of acts and the same incredible community spirit.

Armand Toms, Mayor of Looe and local Cornwall Councillor, said: "Last year festival goers and local people told us that they wanted a community led event which showcased local talent as well as having headline acts and crowd pleasers, and which was financially sustainable.

"They also said we needed to keep a balance between the needs of local people and visitors, and ensure that the scale of the event remained manageable and did not overload the infrastructure of the town. We have worked very hard to ensure that Looe Live! 2019 delivers this."

There will be three stages at this year's event:

  • the main stage on the harbour car park at Buller Quay with a capacity of up to 3,500 people
  • a smaller stage on the beach with a capacity of up to 1,000 which will host the BBC Music Introducing in Devon and Cornwall programme. As the stage will only cover a small section of the beach area, public access to the remainder of the beach will be maintained throughout the festival
  • a stage at the quayside at West Looe

"One of our key aims has been to ensure that the event is financially sustainable – both for this year – and into the future," said Edwina Hannaford, local Cornwall Councillor and a leading member of the Community Interest Company set up to lead the organisation of the event.

"To help us achieve this, entrance to the harbour and beach stages, both of which will be covered, will be ticketed to cover the costs of providing the main acts. Entrance to all other venues, including the West Looe stage, will be free which means that everyone can join in the fun."

"We have tried to keep ticket prices as low as possible to enable local people to take part and are also seeking sponsorship and grant funding from businesses and other organisations."

There will be a full programme of events from 12pm to 10.30pm on all three stages on each of the three main days (Friday to Sunday) as well as acts performing in the local venues and on the streets of the town. Thursday evening (September 19) will be used as a warm up session and will be free of charge.

There will also be a comedy stage and a range of different genres of music on offer, including classical, jazz and country and western, dancing on the sea front and performances by local choirs.

Last year local pubs, restaurants and cafes provided an incredible range of food and drink for local people with many putting on special festival menus. Many are already working on their menus for this year’s festival.

The programme is still being developed but organisers have confirmed that British country duo The Shires will be one of the festival’s headline acts.

Over the past five years Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes have gone from playing in a country pub in Bedfordshire, to becoming one of the most talked about acts in the US, the home of country music.

On their journey they have played at Glastonbury and toured with The Corrs and became the first act ever in the UK to win a prestigious CMA Award – the Jess Walker Global Arts Award which recognises achievements outside the US.

Details of the other headline acts will be announced as they are confirmed over the next few weeks.

Early bird weekend tickets are now available to buy on the new Looe Live! website at just £55 for three days of amazing original music from the South West together with some of the UK’s best loved artists. There are only a limited number of early bird tickets available so people are being encouraged to book now to take advantage of this special offer.

One of the most popular elements of last year’s festival was its community atmosphere and the organisers are determined to build on this by providing more opportunities for local talent to perform on stage as well as in the local venues.

They are also creating a special community zone in the centre of the town during the festival, and will be organising events and activities both in the lead up to and during the festival to raise money to create a new community chest to support local groups and charities.

The festival will also have a strong environmental element. Organisers are working closely with environmental campaigner Ellie Jackson to develop an environment policy to help the festival work towards becoming plastic free.

“Looe is surrounded by the sea and so is vulnerable to the impact of climate change” said Edwina Hannaford. “We know that local people feel passionately about the need to protect the environment and we want to reflect this passion in our festival by minimising the use of plastics, and encouraging recycling.

“We will be promoting the use of recyclable cups and other environmentally friendly merchandise, and supporting sustainable transport by encouraging people to use public transport to travel to the festival rather than coming by car.”

Information about the festival will be published on the Looe Live! website Looelive.co.uk and on the Looe Live! Facebook and Twitter channels as details are confirmed.

"Looe Saves the Day was a fantastic event which brought the whole community together and helped the town to make many new friends from around the world,” said Armand Toms. 

"We have worked very hard to develop our plans for Looe Live! 2019 and are looking forward to providing a fantastic event for everyone to enjoy."

Information about the festival will be published on the Looe Live! website Looelive.co.uk and on the Looe Live! Facebook and Twitter channels as details are confirmed.