Night in the Ruins
Event Headliners Flamingods
MUSIC fans can look forward to celebrating the end of the summer in the Abbey Ruins, with a night of live bands and atmospheric illuminations on Saturday 8th September.
The headline act of the event is the multi-instrumental Flamingods, plus special guests (TBC). The event is being organised by Reading Council in partnership with the organisers of Are You Listening? Festival and Reading Fringe Festival. This exciting music event forms part of a whole host of great cultural events and activities across the town during Reading-on-Thames Festival (6th to the 16th September 2018). As light begins to fall, event goers can watch the ruins brought to life with an exciting and dynamic light installation, which will echo the live music. Event poster Flamingods are a four-piece, multi-instrumental band from Bahrain & London founded in 2010 by Kamal Rasool and now consisting of Rasool, Sam Rowe, Charles Prest and Karthik Poduval. The group explores and experiments with an array of influences from Western psychedelia, jazz and indie to a wide-eyed obsession with music from the East. Using a vast selection of instruments from the Middle East and Asia, the band marries this with Western instrumentations of synthesisers, guitars and drums to create a potent sound all of its own that they call ‘Exotic Psychedelia’.
Cllr Sarah Hacker, Reading’s Lead Member for Culture, Heritage and Recreation, said:
“This exciting event will be a fitting end to what has been an incredible summer of cultural activities celebrating the reopening of the Abbey Ruins – which saw over 18,000 people visit the ruins in one day! The Flamingods are a fantastic live band and designer Stuart Melrose has taken inspiration from the Abbey Ruins to create a spectacular visual finale to our summer of abbey events. “There is still so much to look forward over the coming months in Reading’s cultural calendar –the return of the Progress Theatre to the ruins on at the moment, Reading Library’s Rhymetime in the ruins on 27th July and many family fun days organised by Reading Museum. We also have two fabulous festivals still to look forward to with the Reading Fringe Festival the end of July and Reading-on-Thames Festival in early September.” Visitors to the Abbey Quarter still have an exciting series of events and activities on offer, including: · Reading’s History Comes to Life! Meet historical characters from Reading’s past in the ruins Saturday 28 July & 25 August · Costumed tours in the ruins - 11 August · Progress Theatre Much Ado About Nothing in the ruins 11 Jul 2018 - 7:45pm to 21 Jul 2018 - 7:45pm · Rhymetime in the Ruins, Friday 27th July. · Out in the Abbey – Let’s Go Fly a Kite, Reading Museum craft workshop for families, 31 Jul 2018 - 10:00am to 2:15pm · Out in the Abbey: Bug Club – Reading Museum craft workshop for families, 8 Aug 2018 - 10:00am to 2:15pm Reading’s cultural festival offering is also set for an exciting summer and autumn, with Reading Fringe Festival (24th to 29th July) and a whole host of events and activities across the town during Reading-on-Thames Festival (6th to the 16th September 2018). Night in the Ruins takes place on Saturday 8th September, 6.45-11pm. Tickets are priced £15 and bookings can be made at www.readingabbeyquarter.org.uk/night-in-ruins Reading Abbey Revealed is a major project, made possible through £1.77 million funding support thanks to National Lottery players and the Heritage Lottery Fund and match funding of £1.38million from Reading Borough Council.Ends
Notes
Find out more about the Flamingods here www.flamingods.com Find out more about activities here: www.readingmuseum.org.uk/museum/whats-on www.readingabbeyquarter.org.uk/abbey/whats-on www.reading.gov.uk/libraryevents http://readingplaceofculture.org/reading-on-thames-festival/ www.readingarts.com/reading-arts/whats-on https://readingfringefesitval.co.ukReading Abbey Revealed
The Abbey Quarter in central Reading brings together nationally important heritage within the former grounds of Reading Abbey, once one of Europe’s largest royal monasteries. The conservation of the Grade I listed, scheduled Abbey Ruins and Abbey Gateway are central to Reading Council’s vision to transform the Abbey Quarter into a unique historical destination. Reading Abbey Revealed is a major project, made possible through £1.77 million funding support thanks to National Lottery players and the Heritage Lottery Fund and match funding of £1.38 million from Reading Borough Council. Reading Council appointed CRL Restoration as the main contractor responsible for implementing the conservation side of the Reading Abbey Revealed project in January 2017. The ambitious scope of the project has conserved the remains of Reading Abbey and the Abbey Gateway, and has provided opportunities through events, volunteering and education. Site-wide interpretation of the Abbey Quarter has included the opening of the new Abbey gallery at Reading Museum and has included installing new information points across the town. The accompanying activity programme will continue beyond the Abbey opening until the end of 2020. People can find out more about the project by visiting the Abbey Quarter’s website www.readingabbeyquarter.org.uk Facebook Page www.facebook.com/ReadingAbbeyQuarter or by following them on twitter @RdgAbbeyAbout the Heritage Lottery Fund
Thanks to National Lottery players, we invest money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about – from the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife. www.hlf.org.uk . Follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram #HLFsupported.