vinspired Lake of Stars returns to Birmingham!

On the 11th of June vinspired Lake of Stars returned to the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham to launch this year’s festival. After weeks of preparation and promotion by vinspired volunteers Nikki, Matt, Rochelle, Huda, Shaun, Shannan and Shaniqua, the evening got underway with a chilled acoustic set by local Birmingham singer/songwriter Luke Wylde as vinspired volunteers Ami and Annabel opened the doors to excited punters.

The July Days followed by getting the crowd dancing to their upbeat indie tunes. The band, which regularly plays at University of Birmingham events, brought some Malawi style sunshine to the room.

Cantaloop were the next band to get the crowd going with their jazzy funk tunes, whilst next door the DJ marathon got underway with DJs Sam and Lolly, who provided some alternative tunes for Lake of Stars revellers. During the night vinspired volunteer Artist Liason Rochelle kept the bands happy with beer and snacks, and along with vinspired volunteer Becky, made sure the line up ran smoothly.

The 10 piece band the Monday Sessions followed on with some more funky tunes, which of course resulted in more dancing, more drinking, and singing along to a great rendition of Gnarls Barkley’s ‘smile’. After plenty of singing and dancing, vinspired volunteer Stage Manager, Becky, along with some happy audience members helped set the stage for Afrikan Boy. vinspired volunteer MC Obi kept the audience going with his ever famous jokes. Those who just couldn’t take the jokes, moved into the DJ Room for DJ Raffertie.

Afrikan Boy played a great set, with the crowd getting extremely excited when he played his YouTube hit ‘Lidl’. Afrikan Boy got those crowd members lucky enough to be coming to the festival in October, very excited about his Malawian performance. Those who might have to wait another year until they can party in Malawi, got to enjoy a sample of Lake of Stars, on their very doorstep. Whomanity DJs finished off the night with some Reggae tunes, accompanied by DJ Kronic playing Drum n Bass in the DJ Room.

Throughout the evening vinspired volunteer journalists Shannan and Shaniqua interviewed artists and fellow volunteers using video camera and dictaphone. Keep an eye out for their work....



Thanks to all artists and volunteers for a great evening, another great success for vinspired Lake of Stars.... bring on the next one!

If you would like to find out more about volunteering check out vinspired.com


Jenny Bowie
vinspired Lake of Stars Project Co-ordinator