On the bank holiday evening of Sunday 29th May 2011, a 15,000 strong crowd of music lovers were out in force as Newbury Racecourse – the Middleton’s local and regular host to the Queen - launched itself for the first time as a standalone concert venue, Newbury LIVE. Grammy™ Award winning hit-maker and racegoer Rod Stewart took to the stage as the very first act to perform without a four legged friend on the tracks. With a fully seated capacity, the concert set the tone for a series of sensational standalone music concerts set to run throughout the year.
Stephen Higgins, Joint Managing Director, Newbury Racecourse said, “Newbury LIVE is an excellent example of how we are successfully expanding the racecourse as a host venue - and because it’s only 40 minutes from London, it’s perfectly placed to become of the UK’s most promising and diverse entertainment venues. Tickets for the Rod gig sold out quickly, with visitors attending from as far as Glasgow, and for future events, we will be expanding the venue, hosting up to 60,000 in seats and standing combined.”
Since their launch in 2007, Newbury Racecourse has become well known for its season of Party in the Paddock events which fuse quality racing and world class music acts, demonstrating the growing potential Newbury has as a high profile concert venue.
Rod Stewart adds: “Penny and I have been racing at Newbury before and had a great time, so I’m delighted to be the first person performing at Newbury LIVE. Seeing the whole crowd standing and singing along to ‘Maggie May’ in the open grounds of a racecourse was fantastic.”
