Seth Lakeman.
FANS of live music are looking forward to one of the events of the year, when major folk star Seth Lakeman appears at Ribex in Cowes on May 8.
Now, the County Press has teamed up with the event organisers to offer an Island act the chance to appear on the supporting bill at Ribfest.
We are using our tried-and-tested Live/Wired format to choose an act to complete the line-up and Island artistes and bands are invited to send in their mp3 music files to be incorporated in the Live/Wired at Ribfest webpage.
Music fans will then get the chance to listen to the tracks between March 30 and April 12 and vote for their favourites.
The top four will then be judged by a music industry panel at a live play-off on the Island in mid April and these judges will select a winner to play on the stage at Ribfest. Ribfest is sponsored by Coastline Ribs and partnered with Coast 106 FM.
It will also feature music from organiser Hugo Montgomery-Swan’s band, Swans in Flight, and from a lucky local group, which will be decided by the competition.
Hugo said: "I’m very passionate about supporting new and upcoming artists. Quite often when a concert of this size is staged, London promoters put in their own acts for the support slots and local groups get cut out.
"I didn’t want that to happen with Ribfest — particularly as I’ve heard that there’s a lot of talent on the Island.
"That’s why I decided to run a competition for IW bands to support Seth. It’s great to be able to give local people the opportunity."
The deadline for acts to send in their tracks, which should be accompanied by a photo of the act and brief biography, is 9am on Friday, March 26.
They should be e-mailed to livewired@iwcp2.demon.co.uk.