Everything You Need To Know About Funeral Fest 2023
It’s easy to lament the recent failure of some UK festivals, but it’s far more beneficial to focus on the ones that are going from strength to strength. The UK metal fan has a ton of smaller, underground festivals to choose from. All reasonably priced, extremely accessible, and with strong and varied line ups.
One such festival is the aptly titled Funeral Fest, taking place at the Soccer bar in Barrow in Furness, Cumbria, on June 30th and July 1st, 2023. A weekend festival that features 20 diverse heavy acts ranging from internationally recognised artists to rising newcomers to promising underground powerhouses within the punk and metal scene.
Funeral Fest has been running for several years now, showcasing a host of great talent in the UK scene (including previous headline sets from Newcastle’s Avenger, Abaddon and France’s Skelethal among others). 2023 is their most ambitious event yet, as they move from one day to two. All for the stupidly low cost of £30 for a weekend or £16 for a day ticket.
How about bands though? Well, Funeral Fest features some meaty offerings for all tastes, starting with the headliners.
Friday night will be headlined by the sludgy hardcore riff merchants Raging Speedhorn. A name that should need no introduction, they’ve been laying waste to venues worldwide since 1998, and only seem to be getting better as they go on.
Joining them as headliners for Saturday are the legendary British punk band Discharge. One of the most important and influential bands in the evolution of both metal and punk.
Elsewhere over the weekend, heads will be banging to the likes of Derbyshire thrashers Devastator, Bristolian death metallers Seprevation, Yorkshire doom metallers Iron Void and London’s finest theatrical grindcore act, Basement Torture Killings.
Representing death metal, local titans Repulsive Vision return, as well as Hartlepool’s Vulgar Dissection and Didcot’s Public Execution. Representing black metal, there is Lancaster’s Andracca, Manchester’s WB and both Reign of Erebus and Völniir from Yorkshire. Representing doom metal, there is Glasgow’s Dead Otter and Rotherham’s Bodach. Finally representing metalcore and punk, there is Midlands based Bury Me Where I Fall and locals Cash for Silence and Wendigo.
If all of that wasn’t enough for you to spend your weekend at Funeral Fest, the festival has also booked after show performances for both nights from Merseyside 80s metal cover band Hollywood Ratz and Cumbria’s premier tribute to Lemmy and Co, Motorbeard.
Tickets are available here for £30 for a weekend or £16 for a day ticket. Find out more about Funeral Fest, here.
