Line up revealed for one day festival taking over town venues

Performers will be taking to the stage at The Smokehouse, The Hive, and The Brewers Arms as part of the multi-venue Squash Blossom Festival.

The October 1 event is from Ipswich-based promoter, Squash Blossom, set up by two members of The Smokehouse Presents and Sound City Ipswich team, Caitlin Whittaker and Jamie Robertson.

Caitlin & Jamie at Sound City Ipswich (Image: Colin Kreidewolf)

The Brewers Arms is set to be hosting backroom folk, courtyard hangs, dusty Americana and ambient soundscape vibes.

Brewers Arms will host Squash Blossom Festival (Image: Andrew Martin)

The event launches at 2pm, kicking off with a DJ set from Hex Record Shop followed by cosmic folk artist Naomi Randall.

Tom Rogerson will perform at The Brewers Arms (Image: Matt Jolly)

The evening will start with a performance by alt-country solo singer-songwriter Jack Rundell and will be followed by Norwich-based sunstruck troubadour, Ben Auld, and Tom Rogerson, who was recently named the godfather of ambient music.

Jack Rundell will perform at The Brewers Arms (Image: Krista Lynch)

Meanwhile, The Hive, in Norwich Road, will be hosting alternative DJs, visual art installations as well as electronic sounds and beats in a wholesome community-driven space.

The Hive will host Squash Blossom Festival (Image: Cad Taylor)

The event will start at 4pm with the performance of Manningtree town councillor, Ben Brown.

Ipswich hip-hop legends Soundscape Green and Forrest Moon are set to hit the stage at 8.30 pm.

The festival will be closed by Ill Na Nas, who was last seen in the town at Sound City Ipswich Festival in 2021.

Ill Na Nas will perform at The Hive (Image: Mandy Kingston)

Ipswich’s smallest dedicated live music venue, The Smokehouse, will be showcasing a mix of national talents, from indie-pop and psych-tinged folk to Americana and shoegaze, with doors opening at 4.15pm.

The Smokehouse will host Squash Blossom Festival (Image: Rue Hackett)

Esme Emerson, a British-Chinese sibling duo writing indie-pop music, will start the evening with gentle melodies and atmospheric instrumentals.

Esme Emerson will perform at The Smokehouse (Image: Peter O\'Sullivan)

The seven-piece shoegazing post-rock juggernaut Flip Top Head will start their set at 7.15pm, and will be followed by Fell.

Brown Horse will finish the line-up with their Colorado-red-rocks-via-the-broads sound and dusty downtempo energy.

Loula Yorke will perform at The Hive (Image: Ross Harrison)

Councillor Colin Kreidewolf said: “It is great to see young people having the ability to organise an event like this and they are to be congratulated. I am pleased to see this happening.”

The festival is a warm-up for the Sound City Ipswich, which will be happening in June 2023, with nearly 80 artists expected to play over two days.