The Humber Street Sesh returns on Saturday (August 2) after a phenomenal debut that took almost everyone, including its organisers, by surprise. Ian Midgley asks what year three has in store.
It sounds like something a Roman senator would say in a BBC costume drama. "The Sesh," he would pronounce, swishing his toga, "is a festival for the people, of the people, by the people".
And so it is.
Launched in 2012 as a celebration of Hull's long-running Sesh night, which has been a breeding ground for Hull's best bands for the past decade, it was never meant to be such a success.
With a paltry budget of £18,000, cobbled together from public donations, 130 local bands and a handful of dedicated volunteers, the original Humber Street Sesh was intended to be a grassroots celebration of the sort of burgeoning local talent Mark Page had been hosting at his gig nights at the Linnet & Lark pub in Hull's increasingly Bohemian Princes Avenue for years.
Speaking on the eve of the first Humber Street Sesh, back in 2012, promoter Mark said the ethos of the festival was the same as the one that had driven him to start his club night.
"I first started putting on The Sesh nights because I was sick of seeing tribute acts play to one man and his dog," he said.
"I knew there were plenty of talented kids out there playing in their bedrooms and in studios who needed a stage.
"Although Hull was pulling in good touring acts, there was no support for local bands and artists.
"Since I started the night, we have had more than 1,000 performances and often 200 people attending each week.
"The support has been constant and a lot of the acts have gone on to bigger things, some even playing the likes of Leeds Festival and Glastonbury."
Boasting a line-up that included The Hubbards and The Happy Endings, the first Sesh attracted an impressive 15,000 visitors – a respectable turnout for a virgin festival organised by people feeling their way through on a shoestring.
Buoyed by the initial success of the debut year, the Sesh returned last year with loftier ambitions – but not even Mark, now sporting an impressive beard that would make Michael Eavis envious – could have predicted the tidal wave of support heading Humber Street's way.
Despite a last-minute funding crisis and desperate appeals for donations to help meet the new, bigger, £45,000 budget, the Sesh 2013 did finally go ahead and was met with what could best be described as a popular uprising of music-lovers.
As an event, it managed to combine bona fide street cred with mass appeal. That was when it went crazy.
More then 41,000 crammed into Hull's endearingly disheveled old Fruit Market and the day passed into legend as one of the best impromptu cultural events to ever grace the city. A festival by the people for the people, indeed.
Boasting 160 bands, last year's event surpassed all expectations, which is great, unless you're the organisers who are expected to top it this year.
On Saturday we'll see if it can be done.
The Humber Street Sesh stage by stageFollow the links for highlights and a full programme on each stage.• The BP Spiders From Mars Stage• The KC Fruit Stage 1• The Cosmo Fruit Stage 2• The Deep Newcomers Stage• The Hobgoblin Rock Metal Stage 1• The Hobgoblin Rock Metal Stage 2• The Carling Green Bricks Stage• The ABP Folk in Hull Stage• The Community Development Foundation Speak Easy Stage• The Kag Buskers Stage• The Force 7 Youth Stage
Now with 180 bands spread across 11 live music stages with an accompanying vista of side attractions, including a comedy stage, a dance tent, a skate park, a silent disco, art exhibitions, a pop-up cinema, street theatre and dance performances, among an eclectic and expansive day-long programme, is this the year the Sesh steps up from being an young contender to a major challenger on the UK's festival circuit?
It's certainly grown to a scale worthy of the UK's City of Culture 2017.
A map of the Humber Street Sesh Festival. Click for full-size version.And with such a range of entertainment, it's hardly surprising that the organisers have decided to charge a £3 entry to this year's festivities. Designer entry wristbands are available from a number of Hull's cooler clothing boutiques, pubs and clubs all this week.
The festival is growing in ambition as well as in size, too.
As well as hosting the first reunion of The Paddingtons, the most successful band to come out of Hull in decades, the stages will resound to the sound of a whole new generation of fizzing talent who are now making the city's music scene their own.
If you're not already in the know, look out for names such as Bud Sugar, The Mighty And The Moon, Emily Moulton, endoflevelbaddie, We Are Carnivores, Mother and Smiler, who are blazing a trail through Hull and could soon be lighting a fire the whole country can see.
Despite the increasing reach of the Sesh, and a budget now topping £150,000, its core values remain steadfastly the same, says Mark.
"The aim of the festival is to promote and celebrate the excellence and diversity of Hull's creative community," he says.
"The aim is to build a sustainable festival through a mixed economy of crowd funding, tickets and sponsorship, with more than 500 local creatives involved in its production and delivery.
"The interest has been incredible and the support that we've found from the creators of the city has been immense.
"Everyone wants to be involved in the festival.
"In all my time in the industry I've never seen a city come alive with so much talent as we have in Hull at present.
"People talk about the Manchester and London music scenes. I talk to bands from those areas when they come to play the Sesh on a Tuesday and they are blown away by the content and quality we possess.
"Individually, the artists are all great. But collectively, when we all get together, we are awesome.
"We've proved that at the past two festivals."
• The Humber Street Sesh is on Saturday, August 2, from 11am till late. You will need a £3 wristband to get entry, available from various city centre venues, including Beasley's, Fruit, The Welly, Chinese Laundry, Polar Bear, Thieving Harry's, The Warren and Pave, as well as Minster Records in Beverley. Wristbands will also be available on the gate for £5. Visit humberstreetsesh.co.uk• Look out for the official 56-page Humber Street Sesh programme, produced in association with the Mail, and available at pubs, clubs and independent shops around Hull.
