Thursday
Swan and Heron stages
These stages will alternate
Dare
DARE is best known for their frontman singer songwriter Darren Wharton who first rose to fame in the early eighties playing keyboards with legendary Irish rock band Thin Lizzy. After four great years of playing alongside Phil Lynott, Scott Gorham, Brian Downey and Whitesnake’s John Sykes, Thin Lizzy disbanded. Darren returned to Manchester where he began to write, sing, and produce his own songs. He recruited his own band including exciting young local guitarist Vinny Burns and keyboard player Brian Cox and DARE were born in 1987. Brian Cox went on to other things (yes, that Brian Cox!) after seminal album Out Of The Silence Darren but DARE continue with many more albums and tours behind them. If you came to NVRF 2024 you'll have seen the band headline Saturday as Renegade!
Yes Please
Yes Please are the UK's leading tribute to Prog-Rock legends Yes. Starring Steve Howe specialist Oliver Day on guitar, Yes Please deliver this classic rock with authentic sounds, harmonies and raw energy, receiving high praise from YES fans wherever they perform. Those that have seen them say "Thought I'd never see the real Yes ever again...I did on Sat night...amazing. Nothing seemed too difficult or complex for them” and "Absolutely top musicians.. Quite definitely the best tribute to Yes that I've ever seen."
Ebb
Hailed as one of the bands of the year by many who came to NVRF 2024 and 2023, Ebb are back again. With a melting pot of influences that flowed and evolved into modern prog rock... a sound forged during years of touring in various line-ups and expressed through top-notch musicianship... Ebb are a genre-defying group of five women and one guy with a mission to 'Bring Prog to the People!'.Not to be missed live, Ebb are an emotional gig experience that will lift you out of your daily life and blast you into the stratosphere.
Yes Please
Yes, please indeed! We're sure fans of progressive giants Yes will want to see and hear as much of their music played live as possible, and so at NVRF you'll get that chance. NVRF is very sparing in handing out slots to tribute bands as we prefer to concentrate on original live music, so when we do, it has to be something special. For our first festival in 2023 we gave you ELP, courtesy of Noddy's Puncture (videos on this website) and you loved it. You can't really do ELP justice in an hour so we gave you not one but two sets - you loved that too! This time we're repeating the format - a double dose of Yes music covering many of the early classics!
Kingfisher stage
John Verity
John Verity is one of the most consistent performers on the blues rock circuit today, having honed his craft over more than 60 years on the circuit at every level. Born in West Yorkshire he played in many bands in the area and beyond before moving to Florida. Whilst there he opened for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Mountain and others, then on his return to the UK, taking a somewhat different direction with time as front man with Argent. When Argent disbanded John spent time primarily in the studio, producing, recording, and guesting with, among many others, Ringo Starr, The Zombies, Smokie, Charlie, Motorhead, and Saxon. John is now back with his own band and experiencing a musical renaissance.
Long Road Home
Long Road Home is a song based rock band, whose music is drenched in blues. The band’s influences include; Gary Moore, Robin Trower, Joe Bonamassa, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, 70s rock and beyond. Members of the band have played with many notable musicians including Bernie Marsden, Keith Emerson, members of Gary Moore's band, Uriah Heep, Thunder and Larry Miller. The acclaimed debut album 'Are We Invisible?, has been described in the music press as “Rock Solid Blues!”. Blues Matters magazine said “An absolute stormer of hi-energy, full throttle, electric-driven blues-rock”.
Delfinia
Following their successful opening of Friday's Kingfisher stage last year, Delfinia are back for an evening slot in 2025. Delfinia was started in 2013 in Ukraine as a studio project of Konstantin Naumenko (the vocalist of one of the best Ukrainian power metal bands - Sunrise). The debut full-length studio album "Deep Elevation", with participation of many famous musicians from around the world, was released in 2019 and got a good reviewer’s response from around the world. In 2023 due to the war in Ukraine, Konstantin and Daria (keyboard player) moved to the UK and built the new line up for Delfinia, which became a Northampton-based band.
Dancing Wu Li Masters
Another band that opened a few eyes (and ears!) last year were locally based Dancing Wu Li Masters. A little different to many of the NVRF bands, they play original wu-li funk forged in the baggy acid house years of the early '90s, combined with brand new tunes. Their aim is to get people dancing while expanding their minds with esoteric lyric topics and psyche acid excursions. For 2025 they aim to come back with new material which will further explore their boundaries.