Garston and Halewood Liberal Democrats

Mathew Street festival details unveiled.

Liverpool City Council today unveiled the most diverse programme in the 17-year history of the Mathew Street Music Festival.

Highlights of Europe's biggest FREE annual music festival includes shows by legendary Liverpool bands China Crisis and The Christians plus special guest appearances by famed rock drummer Alan White, formerly of 70s supergroup YES, who also performed on John Lennon's 'Imagine' and George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord', and Grammy-Award winning guitarist Albert Lee.

And for the first time at the festival there will be stages hosting Country and Irish music, with a record 11 different themes programmed across six outdoor stages over the Sunday and Monday of the August Bank Holiday weekend (August 30-31).

On Monday the Williamson Square stage will pay tribute to Radio City DJ Phil Easton, featuring the late broadcasters favourite bands and music (including China Crisis) - musical influences that shaped Liverpool over the past 30 years.

Launched last year the MSMF Fringe has grown to cover three days (Saturday-Monday) with 45 indoor venues - double the number last year - hosting Liverpool's hottest new bands.

Councillor Warren Bradley, Leader of Liverpool City Council, said: ''In terms of variety and quality this year's Mathew Street Music festival has more to offer than ever before and should make for a great weekend of music for all ages and tastes.

''There's been a huge amount of work to develop and broaden the appeal and it's paid off - to have double the number of venues in the fringe is just fantastic and shows the whole city is behind the festival.

''Like all successful festivals we've continued to introduce more new elements like the country and Irish stage. This year will also be very special for having the Phil Easton tribute stage - a stage that will hopefully do the great man's tastes some justice.''

A new, more interactive festival website was also launched today http://www.mathewstreetfestival.com with full listings and band information and links the festival for the first time to the biggest social networking sites - Twitter, Flickr and Facebook.

Over 80 hours of live outdoor music has been programmed for the city council funded festival, with 95 of the best original and tribute acts bands from as far as USA, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Switzerland, Russia, Sweden and Scotland covering hits by greats such as Queen, Blondie, Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Kings of Leon, Paul Weller and the Scizzor Sisterz.

The outdoor stages will operate from 11am to 6pm on both days, with indoor venues offering live music from 12 noon until the early hours.

This year's MSMF Fringe contains highlights such as Dave Monks' BBC sessions at Chavasse Park on Sunday afternoon to all day gigs at the Zanzibar and Masque on Seel Street, from acoustic sessions at the world famous Parr Street Studio 2 to music and film with Urban Strawberry Lunch in St Luke's bombed out church.

Seel Street will also be transformed by live pavement art from Urban Canvas and overrun by camera crews taking part in the Fringe 48-hour film challenge.

More than 200,000 people are expected in Liverpool for the festival, which is organised by Culture Liverpool at Liverpool City Council, and acts as the climax of International Beatles Week.

Councillor Gary Millar, Executive Member for Enterprise and Tourism, said: ''The Mathew Street Music Festival is a hugely important cultural event providing a great platform for music lovers of all tastes to celebrate live music in such a unique way - for free. The city should be proud of the way its has grown and it now gives Liverpool's hotel and tourism sector a massive boost, so everyone's a winner at August Bank Holiday.''

The themed outdoor stages on Sunday for the 2009 Mathew Street Music Festival are:

Queensway Tunnel - Rock

Derby Square - Beatles

Superlambanana stage (Tithebarn Street) - USA

Exchange Street East - Merseycats Then - Sponsored by Liverpool Echo

Water Street - Country - Sponsored by BBC Radio Merseyside

Williamson Square - 80's - Sponsored by City Talk 105.9

For Monday 31 August 2009:

Queensway Tunnel - Contemporary - Radio City

Derby Square - Beatles

Superlambanana stage - Ireland

Exchange Street East - Merseybands Today - Sponsored by Liverpool Echo

Water Street - HMS Garlands

Williamson Square - Tribute to Phil Easton - Sponsored by Radio City

The official programme for the Mathew Street Music Festival 2009 is due out by the second week of August and can be downloaded from the website.