The Stranglers to headline Galtres Festival (From Gazette & Herald)

The Stranglers to headline Galtres Festival at Duncombe Park, near Helmsley

4:00pm Friday 1st March 2013 in News By Charles Hutchinson

PUNK legends The Stranglers will headline Galtres Festival on Sunday, August 25, closing the three-day event at its new home of Duncombe Park, Helmsley.

Aptly for a band with a 1979 hit called Duchess, they will play the Duke Stage.

This stellar signing follows Maximo Park’s booking for the Saturday headline slot, with the Friday headliner still to be revealed.

More than 100 bands will be spread across seven stages at Galtres Festival, which last year was nominated for six UK Festival Awards.

In a career spanning four decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving band to have originated in the British punk scene of the Seventies.

These punk outlaws went on to notch up 24 British Top 40 singles and 18 Top 40 albums, scoring such hits as Peaches, No More Heroes, Something Better Change, Five Minutes, Duchess, Golden Brown, Strange Little Girl, Always The Sun and Skin Deep.

Festival director James Houston says: "This is a major coup for us. The Stranglers have stood the test of time brilliantly, with outstanding recent festival performances and a new album building on their extraordinary success over four decades.

“They’re legends, we've always dreamed of booking them, and now they’re coming. It will be a fabulous end to this year's festival at our spectacular new home."

The Stranglers will occupy the Sunday night spot occupied at Galtres in past years by Levellers, The Beat and Adam Ant. "Our event always ends on a big high," says James. "This year, as the sun sets over the North York Moors, it will be a golden brown high!"

The Stranglers' first studio album for six years, Giants, was released last March. They begin their 2013 live campaign tonight in Scotland at the outset of a 25-date British tour and their summer travels will conclude at Duncombe Park.

Visit galtresfestival.org.uk for tickets and more information.