Cornbury festival line-up unveiled

Bands as diverse as Blondie, Suzanne Vega and Echo and the Bunnymen feature in the line-up for this year's event, which will take place in the grounds of Cornbury House, near Charlbury, on the weekend of July 7 and 8.

The line-up to the event has been a closely-guarded secret, but was officially unveiled today, by organiser Hugh Phillimore, who lives on the estate.

There were fears this year's festival - now officially called The Cornbury Oxford Music Festival - might not happen at all, because of losses run up in previous years.

But Mr Phillimore told the Oxford Mail the event was here to stay, and that he was spending up to £1m on the two-day event, which has a capacity for 20,000 music fans each day.

Other big names to appear at the festival, which is supported by our sister paper The Oxford Times, are singer-songwriter David Gray, rising stars The Feeling, award-winning folk singer Seth Lakeman, indie rock band Midlake, Ireland's Hothouse Flowers and Scottish duo The Proclaimers.

Also playing are Irish folk-rock band The Waterboys, who were forced to cancel their set at last year's festival after getting stranded in Portugal.

Mr Phillimore said: "I wouldn't give up on Cornbury.

"It's a huge investment, but I'm hoping to break even. If we do, it will be a huge achievement. If we don't, we will still soldier on.

"Cornbury really came of age last year. We had up to 10,000 people coming each day, and everyone had a lovely time.

"A lot of regular festival-goers are coming, because of its unique atmosphere."

Last year's event featured a second stage run on the Saturday by Oxford's Truck Records - organisers of Steventon's annual Truck Festival.

This year, however, it will be run by music magazine The Word. On the Sunday, the second stage will once again be run by the Oxford Folk Festival.

One-day tickets cost £45 and weekend tickets cost £80. They are available at www.cornburyfestival.com or by calling 0871 472 0420.