Toots & the Maytals, and Malian Supergroup for new London festival

Open East Festival 2013

Saturday 27th to Sunday 28th July 2013
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, Greater London, E20 2ST, England MAP
£9.50 for adults and £6.00 for children, under 5s are free

Daily capacity: 50,000

Last updated: Mon 8th Jul 2013

The first acts have been announced for Open East Festival, a weekend of music food, theatre, family fun and more to mark the first anniversary of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, taking place in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th July 2013.

The acts confirmed include Toots and the Maytals, The Waterboys, Seun Kuti and Fela's Egypt 80, Malian Supergroup of artists including celebrated duo Amadou & Mariam, Vieux Farka Toure, Fatoumata Diawara assembled by Cheick Tidian Seck. Plus appearing on the Caught by the River Stage will be Don Letts, Wire, Stealing Sheep, and The Rockingbirds.

Open East Festival will host a number of Games related performances including The Pandemonium Drummers and BMX riders from the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony will make an appearance as will the Opening Ceremony choreographer Kenrick Sandy and members of Boy Blue Entertainment. Graeae present Ted Hughes' The Iron Man Directed by Jenny Sealey, the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony Co-Director, this classic modern fable features a colossal iron puppet taller than a double-decker bus.

For young visitors there's The House of Fairy Tales who will be presenting their Travelling Art Circus (with Gavin Turk's Space Pyramid), Discover Children's Story Centre, Charlie Dark on a hip-hop, poetry puppet adventure, The Hare and The Tortoise Remixed, and Joey from the National Theatre production War Horse. Plus a host of things to see, make and do.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park itself will have events and moving music performances programmed on the riverbanks and parklands with pop-up performances and participation throughout the day, culminating each day with a spectacular finale, details of which are being kept under wraps.

There will also be over 70 stalls of London street food sellers and food producers making up the Real Food Festival, plus a communal feast, beers from local breweries from within a 10 mile radius of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and picnic space on the banks of the River Lea.

The best local talent will also feature with leading east London artists and organisations taking part in the day's activities, including Theatre Royal Stratford East, Barbican Drum Works, LSO Discovery and local bands from Continental Drifts. Christopher Green, will lead a mass, inter-generational sing-a-long with friends from the east London community and Rebecca Davies will host bespoke East End mass bingo games around her Beau Belles Ice Cream Van produced by Artsadmin. Also produced by Artsadmin is Handbag, Geraldine Pilgrim's celebratory dance performance which features great music, dancing and handbags and will animate the areas on the riverbanks, and provide a Floating Cinema.

Plus an Art Car Boot Fair, and Urban Bazaar, an art and design community, showcasing the best in UK made, sustainable, up-cycled, vintage and contemporary design featuring Alex Noble.

Day tickets are priced at at £9.50 for adults and £6.00 for children, under 5s are free. Tickets will go on general sale on Monday 3rd June.