Up to 16,000 people have gathered at Cheltenham Racecourse as the Greenbelt Festival takes place over the Bank Holiday weekend.
This year’s festival, given the theme ‘Heaven in Ordinary’, sees an “eclectic mix of music, film, visual arts, comedy, worship and speakers”.Development Manager Paul Northup said as the event kicked off: “There’s something for everyone – and the sunshine too. It’s going to be a ‘belter’.
“Thousands of people area already soaking up heaven in a weekend."
Billy Bragg, headlined the event on the opening evening, and set the scene for a weekend of talented performance that organisers are saying “goes beyond ordinary entertainment”.
He rounded off the first day’s festivities with a headline set on the Main Stage, in which he showcased new songs from his forthcoming album as well as crowd favourites such as A New England and even a cover of a Carpenters’ song.
In one of his new songs, entitled I Keep Faith, Bragg expressed his belief that music inspires both audience and performer alike.
“There’s more of them than there is of me”, he said referring to the potential of the audience to make a change rather than musicians and activists alone, “they can change the world not me”.
Bragg expressed his admiration for the activist aspect of Christianity, which has come to be a major plank of the Greenbelt Festival. The well-known socialist campaigner expressed his belief that cynicism, rather than capitalism or conservatism, was the greatest enemy of all those who tried to improve the world, and that “faith is the only antidote”.
As well as performing, Bragg also talked about nationality and “Britishness”, issues at the heart of his recent book, The Progressive Patriot, and, in a separate talk on Saturday, set forth his vision for a British Bill of Rights.
“A Bill of Rights would bind us together as individuals. Britishness is about belonging, not excluding,” he said.
