Richard Ashcroft announced as first act for Heritage Live 2024 at Audley End
Following on from a successful 2023, Heritage Live has announced the first show of its annual summer concert series for 2024 at Audley End House and Gardens.
Highly respected singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft will headline on Saturday, August 3, 2024, in the grounds of the English Heritage site. He will be joined by special guests, Ocean Colour Scene and Tom Meighan.
Tickets for the show will be available on pre-sale next Wednesday (October 11) at 9am. Customers must pre-register at arep.co/p/richard-ashcroft-2024 for pre-sale access. Tickets will then go on general sale on Friday, October 13, at 9am from axs.com/heritagelive.
Promoter Giles Cooper of GCE Live said: “We’re delighted to announce the first show of what will be our sixth year bringing live concerts to Audley End, one of the most beautiful venues in the country.
“It was a hugely successful year in 2023, and we already can’t wait for 2024.
“We’re really excited to announce Richard Ashcroft as the first headliner for next year. I remember seeing The Verve’s first ever London gig at the King’s Head pub in Fulham in 1991, when I worked at NME, with just 10 people in the audience.
“They were signed later that night, and over 30 years later Richard has cemented himself as one of rock’s truly iconic frontmen.”
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 five solo albums, including his number debut, Alone with Everybody.
He first came to attention with The Verve, with whom 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 number two in the UK Album Chart.
[Read more: Review: Soft Cell headline Heritage Live concert at Audley End, Andy Burrows of Razorlight: ‘Bands are complicated beasts’]
Ocean Colour Scene, consisting of frontman Simon Fowler, guitarist Steve Cradock and drummer Oscar Harrison, have notched up 10 albums of commercially successful hits since their formation in 1989, while Tom Meighan is the former vocalist of alternative rock powerhouse, Kasabian.
