The Freedom Festival is an annual Music and Performance Arts Festival held in the city of Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

, East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.
Named in honour of the slave trade abolitionist, MP and son of Hull, William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...

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2008

Originally held in the summer of 2008, the main festival stage was set in Queen's Gardens

Queen's Gardens, Hull

Queen's Gardens is a sequence of gardens in the centre of Kingston upon Hull, England. They are set out within a area that until 1930 was filled with the waters of Queen's Dock...

 in the city centre, along with smaller stages in Queen Victoria Square and Trinity Square (The Marketplace).
The headlining act was The Magic Numbers

The Magic Numbers

The Magic Numbers are an English pop rock band comprising two pairs of brothers and sisters from Greenford. The group was formed in 2002, releasing their critically acclaimed debut album titled The Magic Numbers on 13 June 2005...

.

2009

The second staging of the event, in 2009, was a much expanded occasion, coinciding with the launch of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race from the Hull Marina

Hull Marina

Hull Marina is a marina for pleasure boats situated in the English city of Kingston upon Hull. It was opened in 1983 on the site of the former Railway dock and Humber docks....

 on the weekend of 11–13 September. Around 150,000 people attended various events around the city centre, including a spectacular fire display by French street art group Carabosse around the old fruit market warehouse district, and along the Humber waterfront.

Major pop acts, as well as local talent performed on several stages throughout the city centre, including Peter Andre, Florence and the Machine, JLS, Pixie Lott and Grooverider.

Queen's Gardens - Live music and activities on Saturday and Sunday plus the two fountain bars.

Humber Quays - Live pop acts on Saturday and the start of the Clipper 2009–10 Round the World Yacht Race on Sunday.

Jazz in the Boatshed - Hull's hugely popular Jazz festival featured as part of the Freedom Festival celebrations on the Saturday and Sunday.

Queen Victoria Square - A link-up with the BBC's Last Night of the Proms, live from the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday.

Fruit Market - Thursday, Friday and Saturday saw French company lit up the streets with fire installations, to the sounds of DJs and artists,

The Saturday night played host to a huge firework display, and as part of the Clipper Race boat departures, the Marina staged a Red Arrows flypast on the Sunday.

2010

The third annual Freedom Festival took place on the weekend of 10-11 September 2010 with a spectacular centrepiece display by French art group Plasticiens Volants consisting of a parade of enormous inflatable Monsters. The artists indicated that the piece was inspired by installations of large fibreglass toads placed around the city in celebration of the Larkin25 commemorations for renowned late Hull poet Phillip Larkin.

The full programme of events for the festival in 2010 included artists, comedians and performers of international standing alongside musical acts such as 2010 Mercury Prize nominees Foals, The Saturdays

The Saturdays

The Saturdays are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London, United Kingdom. The group consists of five members Una Healy, Mollie King, Frankie Sandford, Vanessa White and Rochelle Wiseman. In 2007 the band were formed through Fascination Records which gave them an instant record deal with...

, Alesha Dixon

Alesha Dixon

Alesha Anjanette Dixon is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model and television personality. She first found fame in the all-female R&B trio Mis-Teeq, however, the trio separated in 2005 and Dixon continued pursuing her music career as a solo artist, signing to Polydor Records...

, The Wanted

The Wanted

The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band based in London, England. The band consists of Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker and Nathan Sykes. Their debut single, "All Time Low", was released in July 2010 and reached number one in the United Kingdom for one week...

, Fyfe Dangerfield

Fyfe Dangerfield

Fyfe Antony Dangerfield Hutchins is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the founding member of the indie rock band Guillemots.-Early life:...

, Diana Vickers

Diana Vickers

Diana Vickers is an English singer-songwriter, stage actress and fashion designer who initially came to public attention as a semi-finalist on the fifth series of British talent show The X Factor in 2008...

, Starman

Starman (band)

Starman was a British pop band formed in 2009 by Andrew Stone, a dance teacher at London-based Pineapple Dance Studios.-Formation and history:The band line-up initially consisted of Andrew Stone, Jesus Ruiz, Craig Custance, Mickey Cowdroy and Luka Cadez...

, Roll Deep

Roll Deep

Roll Deep are an Urban Music Awards-winning London-based grime music collective. They were founded in 2002, by a group of MCs including Wiley. Roll Deep were also closely associated with Boy Better Know with members in both. Their debut album, In at the Deep End, was released in June 2005...

, Skepta

Skepta

Joseph Junior Adenuga , better known as Skepta, is an English rapper from London. Originally from and born to Nigerian parents he moved to London aged three....

 and McFly

McFly

McFly are an English pop rock band who first found fame in 2004. The band consists of Tom Fletcher , Danny Jones , Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd . They were signed to the Island Records label from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records...

Freedom Festival also showcased local bands and artists in the marina and Fruit Market districts.