While far too many live music venues and festivals have bitten the dust in this tough economic climate in recent times – the latest being Nottingham’s Splendour Festival after 18 years – it is always great to hear when a new one springs up.
But it is also important they are run properly and can attract the decent bands and artists to sell tickets and cover the huge costs, and grow for the future.
You may not think of Ipswich, in deepest Suffolk, as an epicentre of live music – apart from it being the home city of a Mr Ed Sheeran – but a successful local businessman and music lover decided to “give something back to the county and to Ipswich” and create the brand new HALO Festival which launched as a one-dayer yesterday, Saturday 4th July 2026.
With a capacity close to 10,000, it was a big risk financially for Paul Hamilton, owner of Ipswich tech firm Halo, who are also the shirt sponsors of Ipswich Town Football Club.
Passionate about the town, the county and its people – with most of his employees coming from Suffolk – and serious about the attention to detail required to try to to build concrete foundations for a festival with a long term future.
He hopes to eventually expand it to a three-day annual event and to become a credible major music festival able to attract the big, big acts in the future.
So how did it go with the toe-in-the-water one day bash yesterday?
Well, there may well have been a few squeaky bums up until Friday, but no need for stress; the event sold out late on Friday and when those Trinity Park gates opened at 11am on a sunny and warm Saturday morning, nearly 10,000 people flocked onto the site to enjoy the array of bands and the whole festival vibe condensed into the one day.
The site looked pretty smart, litter pickers out all day and evening to keep things shipshape. There was plenty of signage, often a let down at some festivals. Three stages; main stage, second much smaller stage and the big top where the DJs stage was. The likes of Girl’s Don’t Sync, Conducta, Y U QT and Karen Harding doing their thing on the decks.
Lots of catering outlets and of course, bars. The prices seemed sensible and not a blatant rip off like some festivals. Pints at around £6, which is a few quid cheaper than most festival bars.
The weather throughout the day was pretty hot with occasional cloud cover and a welcome intermittent breeze. Lots of sunburn evident by the end of the day! A stunning sunset and burning sky scene in the evening.
The DJ tent provided an almost pitch black environment even when it was sunny outside. There seemed to be a steady number of people enjoying the DJ sets throughout the day and for some sessions, it was rammed.
The main stage was where most pitched up for the day. People settling in with picnic blankets and in the specified areas circling the stage, an army of people with camping chairs. One thing perhaps not thought out was marking out clear pathways where nobody was allowed to sit or stand. The lines of chairs circled the main stage meaning people couldn’t get in or out.
People were very protective of their own little patches of grass and we witnessed a few instances where they refused to let people through to get to the stage, or even to let them out of the crowd. That needs sorting out for next time to avoid serious safety issues. But it’s all part of the teething problems of a debut event and is easily remedied.
The second stage, the Aspall Suffolk stage had its own area with a dedicated bar, comfy seating and deckchairs pointing toward the small stage. Providing a prime location to sit and enjoy a cider while watching local new talent perform. It is good the festival is giving new, young and local talent a platform to perform to a festival crowd, and maybe discover the next big thing.
It was a good mix of bands and all decent quality too; some of whom may well be back in the future on the bigger stage, perhaps.
Headlined by excellent Ipswich band Afterdrive; who supported Ed Sheeran at Portman Road (Ipswich Town’s stadium) and have played Latitude Festival. Frontman Ben Watt whipped up a good vibe for their set.
Suffolk artist Harriet Cree and her band from Woodbridge won a contest for the chance to open the Aspall Suffolk Stage.
First impressions of the site and main stage was it was well thought out and a tidy looking lay out. Very family friendly and they were hot on keeping the place clean. With one clear benefit above all other festivals, as a showground, they have actual plumbed-in toilets and believe me that is such a luxury at a festival with circa 10,000 people in hot weather making use of them.
Of course there were the usual portable loos on offer as well. There was never much of a queue for the toilets either, which is quite the achievement for any festival.
For the very first act on the main stage, Nottingham acoustic artist Jerub accompanied by a drummer, people were still coming onto the site and checking out the lay out, but he is one to watch for the future. A smooth and uplifting sound with catchy lyrics. A shame to not to have had a later slot. He set the standard and opened with a strong performance of his own songs and a lovely cover of Coldplay’s hit “Fix You’. [Jerub was my favourite act of the day].
Two more main stage early acts: Yorkshire r&b and soul artist Henri Gaston, and then the quirky Gretel, aka Madeleine Haenlein, playing stuff from her debut album “Squish”, such as “Maybelline”. Both main stage early birds did very well.
Warmed things up nicely for Leicester’s The Mercians who had a bit of a following in the crowd, and some wearing the band’s tee shirts. The band which formed in 2022, have good stage presence and an energetic up-tempo set. If you like Catfish and the Bottlemen and Sam Fender, you will probably like this band.
The frontman announced “big news to share” that they have just signed a record label deal and their debut album, “Author Of My Own Misfortune” will be coming out in January (22nd) next year. Stating their aim is to nab a number one chart album.
If the unreleased album track “Hurt By You” is a marker of what’s to come, it’ll be an LP this magazine will need to hear. They announce they are planning to be out getting p*ssed with the crowd later, and a comment about all the blue shirts in the crowd (Halo had an Ipswich Town FC shirt stall), and the band being Leicester fans, so “don’t talk about football anymore!”.
Chart stars Scouting For Girls are always great value on a festival stage and that was the case at HALO. They drew a big crowd and frontman Roy Stride asks if they have just found the best new festival in the UK? He looks out at the sea of faces in the vast crowd and says: “Halo is absolutely rammed”.
Jumping, clapping and swaying is compulsory for any Scouting For Girls show, as is a giant singalong. Roy announces it is the band’s 20th birthday next year, and he asks if anyone saw them at the start in 2007. He asks how loud they can sing today as the band strike up the chorus to their 2008 hit “Heartbeat”, but with a slight twist when they then break into the chorus of Dexy’s, “Come On Eileen”.
One of the crowd yells, “Love you Pete”. Roy, referring to their drummer Pete, says that in 19 years of performing, he’s never heard anyone shout this before! He then asks how posh Ipswich is, to a mixed response from the crowd and wants to know why they are laughing at this. Explaining that he did some research using Chat GPT on which areas are the poshest in Suffolk, and he says it said Southworld 10/10, Woodbridge 9/10 and Ipswich 6/10. Comedy probably doesn’t beckon, Roy.
The four-time BRIT award-nominated band performed “Elvis Ain’t Dead” with a clever mash-up into, “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, which Elvis sang in the 1961 film “Blue Hawaii” . The biggest singalong of the set came with the infectious “She’s So Lovely” and a cracking rendition. Roy doing his usual spot of filming the crowd with his mobile on a selfie stick -, at HALO leaping high in the air at the same time.
Natasha Bedingfield was warmly welcomed, but a fair few folk still in the queue for the bar and for food as she started her set with the bright red LED screen behind her, turning to yellow/orange later. Natasha talks about the” bravery” in starting a new festival and hopes that this may be the first of many years of the wonderful HALO festival. (We do too).
British and New Zealand singer and songwriter Natasha (44) is a natural on stage, and frequently laughs and jokes with her band, also speaking into a second mic’ and she explained that is how she communicates with the band into their in-ear monitors.
She does a nice duet with her guitarist covering Portishead’s “Glory Box”. She has a bunch of mash-ups trailing from her songs into the choruses of other hits, such as Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill”, Beyoncé’s “Put A Ring On It” and Eminem’s “Lose “Yourself”. There was also “Baby Shark” thrown in for good measure, and she says one of the band had dared her to do that one.
Natasha tells the crowd she can feel the fun vibes coming from the crowd, before she debuts a new unreleased song, but she didn’t give out the song’s name! Closing her excellent set with Grammy-nominated “Unwritten”, and then also the remixed version of the song.
A really good result to get indie stars The Vaccines to perform at HALO # 1. Singer Justin Young reveals he is going to say something they have never said before: “Hello Ipswich”. Later he introduces all of the band members, again saying they had never “met” Ipswich before. He speaks about the last 15 years and how they feel their best work is in front of them, before delivering new track, “10 Years Too Far”.
London band The Vaccines are the tasty hors d’oeuvres for the mouthwatering main course, Two Door Cinema Club. A coup to bag this Northern Irish band for a new festival; a band who have just announced their first UK and Ireland tour in seven years. Celebrating 15 Years of their seminal debut album “Tourist History”, they will play five arenas in January 2027.
Released in 2010, “Tourist History” helped to define a generation of indie music, spawning era-defining tracks such as “What You Know”, “Something Good Can Work”, “Undercover Martyn” and “I Can Talk”. It’s influence continues to resonate across indie music, while marking the start of Two Door Cinema Club’s rise from small club venues to some of the world’s biggest stages after forming in County Down in 2007.
The tour follows a landmark period for the band, including a headline New York show at famed Madison Square Garden, and a sold out show at London’s Crystal Palace Park to 25,000 fans.
They were a triumph at HALO. Their big songs such as “Post Break-Up Sex” and “If You Wanna” went down well, and they also offered up a few deep cuts as well as their hits. Kudos to the bookers for choosing and securing this globally recognised band to top the bill at the very first HALO festival. Way to go.
For drivers, there is a large car park with a modest charge of £6, but it’s commendable they lay on a shuttle bus to and from Ipswich train station, and for just £7 return.
Credit to the sound crews on both outdoor stages, you could hear everything crystal clear all around the site and it was never too loud. Everything seemed to run to time too (rare for any festival).
HALO organiser Paul Hamilton says it WILL be back next year, hooorrrray… and they want to extend it to two days and also add camping to the event. London, Paris, Rome, New York, Ipswich. It has a ring to it…
Photos by Liam Battersby
Words by Kerry Louise
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