The competition which has been running over the past few weeks has seen some of the Island’s most well known and loved bands competing for the coveted prize of performing as the opening act on Saturday 19th June at the Manx Telecom Bay Festival, ahead of such acts as Calvin Harris and headliners Spandau Ballet taking to the stage.
Organiser of the Manx Telecom Bay Festival Jonathan Irving attended the final and commented, “I was at the final on Saturday night and it was an unbelievably close call between the four finalists, and I did not envy the judges duty to select the overall winner. However RedGap were confirmed the worthy winners and crowned the “Island Headliner”.”
Due to the final being such a close call, Jonathan Irving wanted to be able to celebrate all of the competing finalists, and following discussions with RedGap, the decision was taken to allow the 3 other finalists the chance to also play the main stage as the support acts for RedGap. Val Nelson from RedGap commenting on this and being crowned overall winners said, “We were delighted to just make it to the final, and really didn’t expect to win – I think we are still in shock, but can’t wait for the festival in June to perform on the main stage”. She also added that they had been disappointed for the other bands that lost out on the night, and was pleased that they would also gain the chance to perform in June as their support bands.
Alex Perriam of Amber bar added his own congratulations to the winners and all competing finalists. Commenting on the overall success of the competition he said, “There was a great atmosphere for the final which was once again well supported. The judges had a tough job on the night as all bands are equally talented musicians; however I think the judges made an excellent choice with overall winners RedGap.”
RedGap class themselves as an acoustic soul band, who write their own material, as well as playing covers by artists as diverse as Florence & the Machine, Kings of Leon, Crosby Stills and Nash plus the Eagles to name a few. They are not strangers to playing music festivals, having headlined the Lancaster Music festival in 2009, and a more recent appearance in January of this year at the La Luna festival in the Canary Islands.
