Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday

Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival: 13th to 17th of February 2026 is back next week, and it's time to celebrate again Britain's largest Mardi Gras in Hastings! The full details of events can be found at the website. As usual I'll share details and notes here about the history of Mardi Gras itself. The festival encompasses numerous venues across Hastings throughout the 5 days of the festival until culminating on the evening of Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/whatever 🎶 Tuesday the 17th of February, for the Fat Tuesday Tour 2026, with partying and music galore from 24 established acts at 12 venues plus!

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Spectacle! 

OK, we may not be as spectacular as Mardi Gras in New Orleans (website) which has been going since 1703, originally 60 miles south of New Orleans, at Point Du Mardi Gras, where  French explorers landed a few years earlier, on the day of Mardi Gras, the 2nd of March 1699. New Orleans was established in 1718, with Mardi Gras regularly celebrated there by the 1830s, and by 1875, large floats were being built in New Orleans to celebrate the festival, the year it became a legal public holiday.

Rio de Janeiro Carnaval, Glamour!

Or as glamourous as Carnaval in Rio which has been celebrated, initially with feasts, since the 17th century. Masquerade balls became popular in the 19th century, but in the early 20th century the culture of African music and dance, introduced by freed slaves and their children, was enveloped within Portuguese Rio de Janeiro, then was founded the dance style of Samba (Sambassadorsofgroove). Mardi Gras was now celebrated in Rio together with the development of Samba schools in the 1920s (there are about 200 schools in existence now) the Carnaval (Portuguese for Carnival) festival became centred on the parade of the Samba schools and the glamour that was introduced, and since 1933 Rio Carnaval has become the largest Mardi Gras festival in the World, with 2 million people participating every year.

We may not have as much spectacle and glamour as New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, although there will be plenty of dressing up, be assured of that, and Mardi Gras and Carnaval have been going considerably longer than Fat Tuesday in Hastings, but we do have free live music galore and we party, this is Hastings!

Whichever events you attend, do enjoy our Mardi Gras and have fun!

Hastings Fat Tuesday 2025!

Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival: 28th of February to the 4th of March 2025 is back again and it's time to celebrate Britain's largest Mardi Gras in Hastings! The full details of events can be found at the website. As usual I'll share details and notes here about the history of Mardi Gras itself. The festival encompasses numerous venues across Hastings throughout the 5 days of the festival until culminating on the evening of Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/whatever 🎶 Tuesday the 4th of March, for the Fat Tuesday Tour 2025 (website), with partying and music galore from 24 established acts at 12 venues from The Carlisle in the west to The Dolphin Inn in the east, and entry is free. Plus there's the Reggae Room Party at East Hastings Sea Angling Association (website).

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Spectacle! 

OK, we may not be as spectacular as Mardi Gras in New Orleans (website) which has been going since 1703, originally 60 miles south of New Orleans, at Point Du Mardi Gras, where  French explorers landed a few years earlier, on the day of Mardi Gras, the 2nd of March 1699. New Orleans was established in 1718, with Mardi Gras regularly celebrated there by the 1830s, and by 1875, large floats were being built in New Orleans to celebrate the festival, the year it became a legal public holiday.

Rio de Janeiro Carnaval, Glamour!

Or as glamourous as Carnaval in Rio which has been celebrated, initially with feasts, since the 17th century. Masquerade balls became popular in the 19th century, but in the early 20th century the culture of African music and dance, introduced by freed slaves and their children, was enveloped within Portuguese Rio de Janeiro, then was founded the dance style of Samba (Sambassadorsofgroove). Mardi Gras was now celebrated in Rio together with the development of Samba schools in the 1920s (there are about 200 schools in existence now) the Carnaval (Portuguese for Carnival) festival became centred on the parade of the Samba schools and the glamour that was introduced, and since 1933 Rio Carnaval has become the largest Mardi Gras festival in the World, with 2 million people participating every year.

We may not have as much spectacle and glamour as New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, although there will be plenty of dressing up, be assured of that, and Mardi Gras and Carnaval have been going considerably longer than Fat Tuesday in Hastings, but we do have free live music galore and we party, for example Saturday 1st March Unplugged boasts 60 emerging artists and bands playing 15 minutes acoustic sets at 30 venues across Hastings, for 5 hours from 1-6pm, from Day Glo Records in St Leonards in the west, to the Dolphin Inn in the Old Town in the east (if you don't have a programme already, for specific acts and where they're playing, go to the website), entry is free, and don't be surprised to find more free non-festival live music at a number of venues Saturday evening too, this is Hastings!

Whichever events you attend do enjoy our Mardi Gras and have fun!

Fat Tuesday 2025 - Early Warning!

Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival early warning for us all, this year running from Friday the 28th of February to Fat Tuesday the 4th of March 2025 (website) and it will again be time to celebrate Mardi Gras in style in Hastings!

Hastings Fat Tuesday 2024

Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival 9-13 February 2024 is back for its 15 years anniversary (website), as I've already implied (blog), and it's time to celebrate Mardi Gras in Hastings! This is very much thanks to a 'successful crowdfunding campaign and generous support from local businesses and East Sussex County Council's Community Wellbeing Fund.' The full details of events, although with a slightly smaller programme than usual, can be found at the website. Indeed, the festival encompasses numerous venues across Hastings throughout the 5 days of the festival until culminating on the evening of Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/whatever 🎶 Tuesday the 13th of February, for the Fat Tuesday Tour 2023 (website), with partying and music galore from 24 established acts at 12 venues from The Carlisle in the west to The Dolphin Inn in the east, and entry is free. Plus there's the Reggae Room Party at East Hastings Sea Angling Association (website).

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Spectacle! 

OK, we may not be as spectacular as Mardi Gras in New Orleans (website) which has been going since 1703, originally 60 miles south of New Orleans, at Point Du Mardi Gras, where  French explorers landed a few years earlier, on the day of Mardi Gras, the 2nd of March 1699. New Orleans was established in 1718, with Mardi Gras regularly celebrated there by the 1830s, and by 1875, large floats were being built in New Orleans to celebrate the festival, the year it became a legal public holiday.

Rio de Janeiro Carnaval, Glamour!

Or as glamourous as Carnaval in Rio which has been celebrated, initially with feasts, since the 17th century. Masquerade balls became popular in the 19th century, but in the early 20th century the culture of African music and dance, introduced by freed slaves and their children, was enveloped within Portuguese Rio de Janeiro, then was founded the dance style of Samba (Sambassadorsofgroove). Mardi Gras was now celebrated in Rio together with the development of Samba schools in the 1920s (there are about 200 schools in existence now) the Carnaval (Portuguese for Carnival) festival became centred on the parade of the Samba schools and the glamour that was introduced, and since 1933 Rio Carnaval has become the largest Mardi Gras festival in the World, with 2 million people participating every year.

We may not have as much spectacle and glamour as New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, although there will be plenty of dressing up, be assured of that, and Mardi Gras and Carnaval have been going considerably longer than Fat Tuesday in Hastings... But what we do have is free live music galore and we party, for example on Saturday Unplugged boasts 60 emerging artists and bands playing 15 minutes acoustic sets at 30 venues across Hastings, for 5 hours from 1-6pm, from Day Glo Records in St Leonards in the west, to the Dolphin Inn in the Old Town in the east (if you don't have a programme already, for specific acts and where they're playing, go to the website), entry is free, and don't be surprised to find more free non-festival live music at a number of venues Saturday evening too, that's Hastings!

Whichever events you attend do enjoy our Mardi Gras and have fun!

Hastings Fat Tuesday 2024 Already? Yes, indeed!

Sadly no St Mary in the Castle this year

Yes, indeed! Hastings Fat Tuesday 9-13 February 2024 (website) already has pre-music festival events occurring, starting, as I write, with today's Frock Up Friday Market Place, from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm, at the Observer Building, 53 Cambridge Road TN34 1DT (website - sorry I'm so late that I very nearly missed this!). I'm presuming this is where to go to get Mardi Gras style accessories, maybe clothes, as they state "Grab your glitter, feathers, and dancing shoes and create yourselves an outfit ready for the rest of the festival!"

Tomorrow (Sunday 4th), from 11.00 am to 3.00 pm at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road TN34 1ET will be a free Family Umbrella Workshop with Radiator Arts (website), where decorative materials and glue guns will be available so that you may decorate an old umbrella to make it fit for Mardi Gras.

Well done to the organisers, and Hastings folk, for raising the money!

Start preparing for the fun to come... 🎆

Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival & Mardi Gras!

Tuesday the 21st of February is the day, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday, whatever you want to call it, and Hastings again hosts the biggest Mardi Gras festival in Britain: 24 acts will be playing at 3 venues each, from the following 12, from the Carlisle in the west/town centre to the Dolphin Inn in the east/old town, all free!

Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA;
Hastings and St Leonards Angling Association, Marine Parade TN34 3AG;
Carlisle, 24 Pelham Street TN34 1PE;
Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock-a-Nore Road TN34 3DW;
Dragon Bar, 71 George Street TN34 3EE;
First In Last Out, 14-15 High Street TN34 3EY;
Jenny Lind Inn, 69 High Street TN34 3EW;
London Trader, 4-7 East Beach Street TN34 3AR;
Lord Nelson, 1 East Bourne Street TN34 3DP;
Porters Wine Bar, 56 High Street TN34 3EN;
Pumphouse, 64 George Street TN34 3EE;
Royal Standard, East Beach Street TN34 3DW.

Each of the 24 acts will play 20 minutes sets in 3 of the venues, and each venue will have 6 acts, from 8.00 pm until 11.00/11.30 pm; please go to the Hastings Fat Tuesday website for greater detail for each act and each venue. In addition, from 8.00 pm until 1.00 am, opposite the Lifeboat Station at East Hastings Sea Angling Association, The Stade TN34 3FJ, will be the Reggae Room.

If you want to play it by ear, just walk around the Old Town and don't be surprised by the quality of free live music available, have fun and party. I recommend people consider their favourite venues and what they sell drinks-wise, consider who they'd like to see, then decide on getting to one venue early, and stay there, venues will be busy!

For full details of all events (there is more!) go to the website.

If you haven't already read it, I wrote more about Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras 2023 and the history of Mardi Gras in last Thursday's blog.  

Carnaval do Brasil returns!

Indeed, as I wrote just before Hastings own Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday festival (blog), Carnaval in Brazil was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, indeed, more than just the 3 weeks originally planned for, but it is on right now, continuing until next weekend (Sky), if you fancy flying out there! 😉 It's like the spectacle and glamour never went away, for example, see YouTube for evidence on film. 

Great to see, but let's not forget we have our own spectacle with Jack in the Green next weekend (blog), I'm so looking forward to our May Day Festival this year!

Fat Tuesday Tour This Evening!

Tuesday the 1st of March, today. is the day, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday, whatever you call it, and Hastings hosts the biggest Mardi Gras festival in Britain: 24 acts will be playing at the following 12 venues mainly in Hastings Old Town:

Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA;
Hastings and St Leonards Angling Association, Marine Parade TN34 3AG;
Carlisle, 24 Pelham Street TN34 1PE;
Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock-a-Nore Road TN34 3DW;
Dragon Bar, 71 George Street TN34 3EE;
First In Last Out, 14-15 High Street TN34 3EY;
Jenny Lind Inn, 69 High Street TN34 3EW;
London Trader, 4-7 East Beach Street TN34 3AR;
Lord Nelson, 1 East Bourne Street TN34 3DP;
Porters Wine Bar, 56 High Street TN34 3EN;
Pumphouse, 64 George Street TN34 3EE;
Royal Standard, East Beach Street TN34 3DW.

Each of the 24 acts will play 20 minutes sets in 3 of the venues, and each venue will have 6 acts, from 8.00 pm until 11.00/11.30 pm; please go to the Hastings Fat Tuesday website for greater detail for each act and each venue. In addition, from 8.00 pm until 1.00 am, opposite the Lifeboat Station at East Hastings Sea Angling Association, The Stade TN34 3FJ, will be the Reggae Room Party.

If you want to be play it by ear, just walk around the Old Town and don't be surprised by the quality of free live music available, have fun and party. I'd recommend people consider their favourite venues and what they sell drinks-wise, consider who they'd like to see, then decide on getting to one venue early, and stay there, venues will be busy!

If you still have energy to carry on, the Fat Tuesday After Party is from 10.00 pm until 3.00 am at The Brass in the town centre, 18 Havelock Road TN34 1BP (website). Go to the link to purchase tickets from eventbrite which cost £11.01 (£10 + booking fee).

If you haven't already read it, more about Mardi Gras in last Wednesday's blog.

Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival Returns!

2 years since the last one, and the Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival is back (website) so this year we can celebrate Mardi Gras in style again! The festival kicks off on Friday the 25th with a one day music conference, Un-Convention, from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm at the East Hastings Sea Angling Association opposite Hastings Lifeboat Station (website), continuing that evening with Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball, 8.00 pm to 3.00 am, at the White Rock Theatre (website). The festival goes on to encompass numerous venues across Hastings throughout the 5 days of the festival until culminating on the evening of Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, Tuesday the 1st of March, for the Fat Tuesday Tour 2022 (website), with partying and music galore from 24 bands at 12 venues, plus a Reggae Room at the Sea Angling Club!

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Spectacle! 

OK, we may not be as spectacular as Mardi Gras in New Orleans (website) which has been going since 1703, originally 60 miles south of New Orleans, at Point Du Mardi Gras, where  French explorers landed a few years earlier, on the day of Mardi Gras, the 2nd of March 1699. New Orleans was established in 1718, with Mardi Gras regularly celebrated there by the 1830s, and by 1875, large floats were being built in New Orleans to celebrate the festival, the year it became a legal public holiday.

Rio de Janeiro Carnaval, Glamour!

Although Mardi Gras in Rio, has been put back for 3 weeks this year, but this too is spectacular, and has been celebrated, initially with feasts, since the 17th century, masquerade balls became popular in the 19th century, but in the early 20th century the culture of African music and dance, introduced by freed slaves and their children, was enveloped within Portuguese Rio de Janeiro, then was founded the dance style of Samba (website). Mardi Gras was now celebrated in Rio together with the development of Samba schools in the 1920s (there are about 200 schools in existence now) the Carnaval (Portuguese for Carnival) festival became centred on the parade of the Samba schools and the glamour that was introduced (website), and since 1933 Rio Carnaval has become the largest Mardi Gras festival in the World, with 2 million people participating every year. 

OK, we may not have as much spectacle and glamour as New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, although there will be plenty of dressing up, be assured of that, and Mardi Gras and Carnaval have been going considerably longer than Fat Tuesday in Hastings... But what we do have is music galore and we party, for example on Saturday 22nd Unplugged carries on with 60 artists and bands playing 15 minutes acoustic sets at 30 venues across Hastings, for 5 hours from 1-6pm, and from Tommy's Pizzeria in St Leonards to the Dolphin Inn in Rock-a-Nore Road in the old town (if you don't have a programme already, for specific acts and where they're playing, please go to the website), and don't be surprised to find further live music sets at some venues later that evening!

Also there is much more to follow until Fat Tuesday itself (website), and I shall be writing more about that too, but do enjoy yourselves, have fun, and stay safe!

100th Birthday Celebration, Fat Tuesday Cometh & More!

If you wondered what all the singing was about on Tuesday at Winkle Island, then I can advise you that it was a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" in celebration of George's 100th birthday, many congratulations to him, and quite a few glasses were raised to him yesterday as well! 

Sadly, George died on the 10th of January 2023, R.I.P. 😢

Indeed, the Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival 2022 is soon to be upon us, from the 25th February to the 1st of March, 2 years on from the last Fat Tuesday, which was the final major event in Hastings before the first COVID-19 Crisis lockdown (blog). The festival kicks off with the Fat Friday Mardi Gras Ball on Friday 25th, culminating with the Fat Tuesday Tour of 13 pubs and bars in the Old Town on the evening of Tuesday 1st March; more details will follow here, but if you can't wait, see their website.

Hastings Fat Tuesday is the largest Mardi Gras celebration in the UK, which, like the usually impressive New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro Mardi Gras, were all cancelled last year due to the pandemic. This year most of the parades in New Orleans will be shortened, and the Rio Mardi Gras has been put back to April the 20th to the 30th. 

On Tuesday I noticed a very significant Police and PCSO presence around Hastings and particularly in the town centre, this being a continuation of Hastings Police high-vis patrols, engaging with Hastings folk and maintaining an eye on the area (twitter).

And a warning, as if you didn't already know, that Storm Eunice will be upon us overnight and tomorrow, with an Amber Weather Warning that wind speed down here is forecast to reach up to nearly 50mph, with gusts of up to more than 70mph! Rain is forecast between 02.00 and 10.00 (Met Office), which will feel unbearable, I imagine, noting wind speed, so batten down the hatches and stay safe! 

Hastings Fat Tuesday Tour - 25th February 2020

It's Mardi Gras in Hastings!

Tuesday the 25th of February is the day, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday, whatever you call it, and Hastings hosts the biggest Mardi Gras festival in Britain: 24 acts will be playing at the following 12 venues mainly in Hastings Old Town:

Albion, 33 George Street TN34 3EA;
BlackMarket VIP, 10 George Street TN34 3EG;
Carlisle, 24 Pelham Street TN34 1PE;
Dolphin Inn, 11-12 Rock-a-Nore Road TN34 3DW;
Dragon Bar, 71 George Street TN34 3EE;
First In Last Out, 14-15 High Street TN34 3EY;
Jenny Lind Inn, 69 High Street TN34 3EW;
London Trader, 4-7 East Beach Street TN34 3AR;
Lord Nelson, 1 East Bourne Street TN34 3DP;
Porters Wine Bar, 56 High Street TN34 3EN;
Pumphouse, 64 George Street TN34 3EE;
Royal Standard, East Beach Street TN34 3DW.

Each of the 24 acts will play 20 minutes sets in 3 of the venues, and each venue will have 6 acts, from 8.00 pm until 11.00/11.30 pm; please go to the Hastings Fat Tuesday website for greater detail for each act and each venue. In addition, from 8.00 pm until 1.00 am, opposite the Lifeboat Station at East Hastings Sea Angling Association, The Stade TN34 3FJ, will be the Reggae Room Party.

If you want to be play it by ear, just walk around the Old Town but don't be surprised by the quality of free live music available, so have fun and party... Phew!

Then, if you still have energy to carry on, the Fat Tuesday After Party is on from 10.00 pm until 4.00 am at the Brass Monkey in the town centre, 18 Havelock Road TN34 1BP. The website states tickets cost £10.00, but if you go to the link to purchase tickets from eventbrite it suggests £11.01 per ticket... Presumably booking fee added?

If you haven't already read it, more about Mardi Gras in last Tuesday's blog.


Many thanks to the Hastings Fat Tuesday website for the image above, cheers!

Fat Tuesday Festival Continues...

As I said in my blog the other day, today sees 40 artists and bands playing 15 minutes acoustic sets for Unplugged, from 1 pm to 6 pm, at 25 venues across Hastings (between 8 and 11 acts at each venue! - website). Not just all that free live music, but today and tomorrow (Sunday) Sonics 2020 (website) is a 2 day "celebration of experimental music, sound art and film." Plus, this evening/night from 8 pm to 2 am, is Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball, costing £22.50 (Tickets can be bought from the website).

Sadly, due to the bad weather forecast tomorrow (Sunday), the Umbrella Parade will not be experienced walking along the seafront this year (website), BUT! Head to the White Rock Theatre anyway, where 'dancers, musicians and lots of umbrellas' will be in abundance from 12 noon to 5 pm for Preservation Sunday (website).

In addition, Sonics 2020 (website) continues for its second day, and Under the Radar will be held, with 4 stages hosting "the best emerging young talent from across the UK, curated by BBC Introducing, Academy of Contemporary Music, Incubate (from The Eggtooth Project) and the Joe Strummer Foundation" (website). Under the Radar begins from 2 pm at The Carlisle, with the last act at that venue planned to come on stage at 7.30 pm, and from 5 pm to 11 pm at The Printworks, where it looks like, from the website, there may be more music on Monday the 24th!

So, plenty of musical fun to come, and even more on Monday, culminating with the Fat Tuesday Tour on the 25th, carry on enjoying Mardi Gras folks!

Fat Tuesday Music Festival Returns...

Yes, it's not for a week, but then, it starts much sooner...

You know the Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival 2020 (website) is back when you see leaflets and posters all over town! The festival kicks off on Friday with a one day music conference, Un-Convention, from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm at the White Rock Hotel (website), continuing that evening with the Fat Friday Launch Party starting at 7.45 pm (to 11.30 pm) at the White Rock Theatre (website), and goes on to encompass numerous venues in the old and new towns throughout the 5 days of the festival until culminating on the evening of Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day/Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras, Tuesday 25th (website), with partying and music galore!

Mardi Gras, New Orleans, Spectacle! 

OK, we may not be as spectacular as Mardi Gras in New Orleans (website) which has been going since 1703, originally 60 miles south of New Orleans, at Point Du Mardi Gras, where  French explorers landed a few years earlier, on the day of Mardi Gras, the 2nd of March 1699. New Orleans was established in 1718, with Mardi Gras regularly celebrated there by the 1830s, and by 1875, large floats were being built in New Orleans to celebrate the festival, the year it became a legal public holiday.

Rio de Janeiro Carnaval, Glamour!

Mardi Gras in Rio, has been celebrated, initially with feasts, since the 17th century, masquerade balls became popular in the 19th century, but in the early 20th century the culture of African music and dance, introduced by freed slaves and their children, was enveloped within Portuguese Rio de Janeiro, then was founded the dance style of Samba (website). Mardi Gras was now celebrated in Rio together with the development of Samba schools in the 1920s (there are about 200 schools in existence now) the Carnaval (Portuguese for Carnival) festival became centred on the parade of the Samba schools and the glamour that was introduced (website), and since 1933 Rio Carnaval has become the largest Mardi Gras festival in the World, with 2 million people participating every year. 

OK, we may not have as much spectacle and glamour as New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro, though there will be plenty of dressing up, be assured of that, and Mardi Gras and Carnaval have been going considerably longer than Fat Tuesday in Hastings... But what we do have is music galore and we party, for example on Saturday 22nd Unplugged carries on with 40 artists and bands playing 15 minutes sets at 25 venues across Hastings, for 5 hours from 1-6pm, and from Tommy's Pizzeria in St Leonards to the Dolphin Inn in Rock-a-Nore Road in the old town (if you don't have a programme already, for specific acts and where they're playing, please go to the website), with plenty to enjoy.

Also there is much more to follow until Fat Tuesday itself (website), and I shall be writing more about that too, but do enjoy yourselves have fun!

It's February and Music Festival Time in Hastings!

Well, around this time of year, as in building up to Easter, and Hastings enjoys its own version of Mardi Gras, as in the Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival 2020, which this year runs from Friday 21st to Tuesday 25th of February, and is in its eleventh year, I believe. Starting with the Launch Party and Un-Convention; Saturday Unplugged at many venues, Sonics and Le Grand Mardi Gras Ball; Umbrella Parade, Preservation Sunday, Under the Radar and Sonics again; Slim Monday; the musical extravaganza that is the Fat Tuesday Tour itself, again with numerous acts playing at many venues, and the After Party (website).

But the music doesn't stop there, as can be seen from the poster I spotted above, because on the very next day begins the inaugural Hastings International Piano Festival (26th February to 8th March 2020). Go to the website for further details.

Of course it's Music Month (14th February to 17th March), and Hastings is certainly the place to live for eclectic live music and partying!

Fat Tuesday - Umbrella Parade (Sunday)

I was a wee bit concerned when I heard that Storm Freya would be tearing across the UK tomorrow (Sunday 3rd), and, although the West and North West of the country will receive the brunt of the storm, it is forecast to be very wet and windy down here too! However, I now understand that the Umbrella Parade this year will not be braving the elements, which is a shame but, very sensibly, the complete event will be held in St Mary in the Castle (website), simples! So, the Umbrella Parade, then Preservation Sunday with it's New Orleans style Mardi Gras celebration (website), from 12.00 noon in St Mary in the Castle it is then, do not forget your umbrella and enjoy! 😉

Also, tomorrow, will see the second day of the (Thee Saturday) now Thee Sunday Sonics (website) and Under the Radar (website), so there's something for everyone, just about, and don't worry about the weather, but do have a great day!

Mardi Gras - The Fat Tuesday Tour!

It's that time of year when you can chose between staying in and scoffing pancakes or going out to enjoy the abundance of free live music in Hastings old town, or you could do both! With 24 bands playing 20 minute sets at 12 venues, that's 6 acts at each venue if you don't want to follow particular bands... So. ensconce yourself in a venue where you'll feel more comfortable venue/acts wise, or dodge around the venues (it can be difficult getting drinks at, or even getting into, some venues once the ball's rolling!). 

Check the website for details of the venues and when bands are playing at each venue (too many to list here), dress up and enjoy the evening!

Festival Kicks Off with the Fat Friday Launch Party!

The Hastings Fat Tuesday 2018 five day festival kicks off this evening at St Mary in the Castle, from 8pm, with tickets at £5 in advance, £8 on the door, when...

Skinny Lister

the "raucous punk-folk" Skinny Lister headline at 9.30pm, supported by singer-songwriter Jamie Smart at 8.45pm. See the festival website for more information.

The fun is about to begin yet again... 

Fat Tuesday and nicer news...

Small Reminder in Town Centre

Believe it or not the Fat Tuesday festival begins tomorrow with the Fat Friday Launch Party, then much music up to and including Fat Tuesday itself! See website.

Decorations are already festooning the Town, including reminders of our own special mardi gras, the largest in the UK, and the Umbrella Parade on Sunday (website).

Looking forward to having fun, not to mention eating pancakes!

Less than 3 weeks to the start of Hastings Fat Tuesday Festival!

Where did that year go?!? Anyway, my weekend being slightly upset by the prevailing weather conditions, I've been uplifted by realising the start of the 2018 Hastings Fat Tuesday festival is just 20 days away, indeed, the biggest Mardi Gras festival in the UK! Starting with Friday's Launch Party, then Unplugged Saturday, an afternoon of bands playing at many locations in the old town, from St Mary in the Castle via George Street, High Street and All Saints Street, to the Dolphin Inn in Rock-a-Nore Road; see website. To the Grand Mardi Gras Ball at St Mary in the Castle on Saturday evening, and the Umbrella Parade, starting Sunday morning at the Stade, then promenading to St Mary in the Castle again, fingers crossed it won't be too windy!

Also on Sunday more music across the town from lunchtime, at St Mary in the Castle, the Brass Monkey and The Palace, and at On the Rocks and The Printworks in Claremont. On Monday there is UnConvention, a one-day music conference at the White Rock Theatre from 10am to 5.30pm, and Slim Monday, with King Size Slim performing at The Palace from 7pm. See website for full details of what's on. 

The festival culminates with the Fat Tuesday Tour, and, finally, with the After-show Party; see website. From 8pm to 11pm, on Tuesday the 13th of February, the 2018 Fat Tuesday Tour will see 24 bands play three 20-minute sets each, at 12 venues, which means either settling down in one venue, so choose the bands you with to see most at one venue, or more challenging, wandering from venue to venue to see particular bands. Whatever you do, enjoy Mardi Gras!

It's Mardi Gras, Party Time!

OK, unlikely to see anything quite this exotic locally this evening, but today is Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday in Hastings... Which means hours of music in many locations: The Jenny Lind, Nelson, Standard. Trader, Dragon Bar, Albion, Old Market, Carlisle, FILO, Porters, Dolphin, Anchor. plus The Fringe: See the Fat Tuesday website for which bands are playing where, SIX playing at each venue from 8pm!