23 May Kew the Music 2024 – Final support acts and full line-up announced
Final support acts have been added to the bill for Kew the Music 2024, completing the line up for the summer series of concerts.
The latest additions include Tina Daheley who will be interviewing Monty Don during his An Evening in Conversation with Q&A event, Essence Martins supporting MIKA, Lucy Spraggan and Tom Speight supporting Ronan Keating, and Newton Faulkner supporting Passenger.
The annual week-long festival of picnic concerts is set in the stunning UNESCO World Heritage site, Kew Gardens in south west London, and has become one of the fixtures in the London summer music calendar.
Established as one of the most spectacular summer concert venues in the UK, the shows are a hit amongst all generations of music lovers. Unusually for outdoor events, guests are welcome to bring their own food and drink or can enjoy the open-air bars and street food stalls.
An Evening in Conversation with Monty Don – Monday 8th July
Monty Don has been making television programmes for over 30 years and has been lead presenter of the BBC’s Gardener’s World since 2003. Since 2011 the programme has come from his own garden, Longmeadow, in Herefordshire.
After a thrilling sellout tour in 2022 Monty is heading back out on tour where he will share tales from his career in gardening, detail his favourite gardens – both ancient and modern, and reveal how he fell in love with the natural world. Discover how he created his beautiful garden at Longmeadow, the practices he considers to be the most useful and important, and the magical impact of the changing seasons.
With something for seasoned gardeners and green-fingered novices alike, don’t miss the opportunity to join Monty for a thought-provoking celebration of nature, in one of the most famed gardens in the world.
He will be interviewed at this event by BBC Radio 2’s Tina Daheley.
Mika – Tuesday 9th July
Throughout his career, Mika has crafted a world of gritty romance amidst the joy and playfulness of technicoloured alternative pop. With his defining single ‘Grace Kelly’ in 2007, he sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and was no.1 in the UK for five weeks. His debut album ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ has over 2.8 billion streams.
Following this Mika has released a further four studio albums, conquered Europe both with his music and appearing on various television shows, created orchestral versions of his greatest hits, and much more. In 2022 he was as an international host of the Eurovision Song Contest, where he performed a dazzling medley to 161 million viewers worldwide and performed at festivals internationally including a triumphant set at the Isle of Wight Festival.
He will be supported at Kew the Music by Sammy Rae & The Friends and Essence Martins.
Ronan Keating – Wednesday 10th July
Ronan Keating shot to fame in the early 90’s with Boyzone, who in their first five years became one of the biggest pop bands ever, enjoying 16 top five hit singles, six of which hit the No.1 spot, amongst them the likes of ‘Words’, ‘No Matter What’, ‘All That I Need’, and their first hit, ‘Love Me For A Reason’.
In August of 2000, Ronan released his debut, self-titled album. It shot straight to No.1 in the UK Album Charts, with two No.1 singles. It contained the two number one singles ‘When You Say Nothing At All’ and ‘Life Is A Rollercoaster’, and went on to sell 4.4 million copies around the world, firmly establishing Ronan as an artist in his own right.
Since then, Ronan has taken part in hugely successful Boyzone reunions over the last 15 years, including a fitting end with the triumphant ‘Final Five’ sell-out shows at the iconic London Palladium in October in 2019, as well as releasing further solo albums and completing solo worldwide tours.
He will be supported at Kew the Music by Lucy Spraggan and Tom Speight.
Passenger – Thursday 11th July
Passenger is a multi-award winning, platinum-selling singer-songwriter. Although still known for his busking, he made the journey from street corners to stadiums with ‘Let Her Go’, which reached No.1 in 19 countries and has now notched more than six billion streams globally. It is the second-most ‘Shazammed’ song of all time. Yet ‘Let Her Go’ is just one song from a catalogue that extends across 13 albums in 13 years, including eight that have reached the UK Top 40.
His most recent release on 10 November 2023 is a re-working for the anniversary of his breakthrough album ‘All The Little Lights’, which features collaborations with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Foy Vance.
Passenger will be supported by Gabrielle Aplin and Newton Faulkner.
JLS – Friday 12th July
The Friday headliner is one of Britain’s most beloved boybands – JLS. Releasing their debut album in 2009 which has since sold over 1 million copies in the UK alone, the band has won two BRIT awards and five MOBO awards.
Since their comeback in 2021, JLS – Aston Merrygold, JB Gill, Marvin Humes and Oritsé Williams- have performed to over 350,000 on tour, including their 2023 ‘EVERYBODY SAY JLS: The Hits’ tour.
JLS released their most recent album ‘2.0’ in 2021 and will bring hits from the record as well as huge singles like ‘Beat Again’, ‘Everybody in Love’ and ‘Love You More’ to Kew Gardens next summer. They’ve come a long way since their emergence on the X Factor in 2008.
JLS will be supported at Kew the Music by Tinchy Stryder.
Beverley Knight – Saturday 13th July
Beverley Knight is no stranger to the spotlight and is a performer who can do it all – both a star of the West End stage and an astounding singer with a prolific music career, with huge hits like ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’, ‘Come As You Are’, ‘Keep This Fire Burning’, and more.
A national treasure, Beverley was awarded an MBE in 2007 for services to British music and charity, has won three MOBO Awards, been nominated for Best Female at the Brit Awards three times, and after several nominations, last year won her first Olivier Award.
Beverley marked the milestone of turning ‘50’ last year with her ninth studio album ‘The Fifth Chapter’, including 5 massive radio singles & her biggest ever tour of the UK. Knight will star this year in Sister Act the Musical in the West End, following on from recent roles in the likes of Memphis The Musical, Cats, and The Drifters Girl.
Beverley Knight will be supported at Kew the Music by Asa and Marisha Wallace.
An Evening with Richard Ashcroft – Sunday 14th July
Richard Ashcroft is a two-time Ivor Novello winner (Songwriter of the Year in 1998 and Outstanding Contribution to British Music in 2019) who has released five Top 5 solo albums, including the #1 debut ‘Alone With Everybody’.
He first came to attention with The Verve, with who he released one of the biggest albums of the era in the shape of ‘Urban Hymns’ (the UK’s 18th biggest selling album of all-time), as well as a succession of anthems which remain staples of his live set today, including ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Sonnet’. His most recent album, ‘Acoustic Hymns’, was released in 2022 and reached No.2 in the UK Album Chart.
Richard Ashcroft will be supported at Kew the Music by Jamie Webster and Callum Beattie.
KEW THE MUSIC 2024
Monday 8th July – An Evening in Conversation with Monty Don, interviewed by Tina Daheley
Tuesday 9th July – MIKA plus Sammy Rae & The Friends + Essence Martins
Wednesday 10th July – Ronan Keating plus Lucy Spraggan + Tom Speight
Thursday 11th July – Passenger plus Gabrielle Aplin + Newton Falkner
Friday 12th July – JLS plus Tinchy Stryder
Saturday 13th July – Beverley Knight plus Asa & Marisha Wallace
Sunday 14th July – An Evening with Richard Ashcroft plus Jamie Webster + Callum Beattie
Tickets Available from: kewthemusic.org
Hospitality tickets including hamper and BBQ packages available from:
kewthemusic.org/vip-packages
