FAT TUESDAY.

Photography by Mark Richards / Chris Georghiou @monkeychops

Mardi-Gras, Carnevale, Pancake-Day… wherever you are or whatever you call it… in the Christian tradition it’s a day to consume all your treats and celebrate before midnight, because from tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) you’ve got to be on your best behaviour until Easter Sunday

It doesn’t take much for this town to partake in treats and celebrate, and since its official launch in 2009, Hastings Fat Tuesday has become the biggest Mardi Gras celebration in the UK and one of the most treasured events in the Hastings calendar. Around 350 free gigs are performed in the town throughout the festival, kicking off with The Grand Mardi Gras Ball, (back this year, on Friday 28th Feb 2025), there’s a fun-filled five days of musical mayhem, featuring Unplugged Saturday (where each acoustic act performs five 15 minute sets at five different venues), the Umbrella Parade on Sunday and culminating with Fat Tuesday, (where bands perform three 20 minute sets across three venues in one evening).

I recently visited New Orleans, famous for its great food, live music and colossal Mardi Gras festivities, and when landing back to Hastings I couldn’t help but see the parallels of these two towns… it’s like New Orleans is our much bigger, grizzlier American cousin. The pair are pleasure towns and sites of significant battles (in which the Brits lost both) with a rich history of music and a rampant urge to don fancy dress and go a bit wild. We’ve both got housing issues. They’ve got Voodoo, streetcars and Gators in the Mississippi… we’ve got Crowley, the funicular and floaters in the sea.

It’s a point that Bob Tipler (who started Hastings Fat Tuesday) agrees with me on, “we even had our own hurricane” he points out, “and are often frowned upon by our more… how to put it… wealthier neighbours”. Bob started Hastings Fat Tuesday in 2009 as a way to promote his Louisiana blues band, The Cajun Dogs. He got chatting to Adam Daly in their kids’ school playground one day and an idea was born to build a wooden arch and cart it around Old Town, playing music, having fun and finishing up at The Brass Monkey for more revelry. Bob’s history in advertising had his cogs whirring, and as a way to market the event, he adapted the ‘Welcome to Hastings’ road signs around town by adding ‘Twinned with New Orleans’ underneath (something which he says he can now “fess up” to, after many years of secrecy and a slapped wrist from the council). “There were initially some doubts about it, we thought nobody would turn up on a Tuesday but the whole town got behind it and everywhere was rammed… it’s grown and grown into the beloved event it is now”.

“It’s a gift for businesses” says Chris Barnett, owner of The Piper pub in St Leonards. The event acts as a perfect stepping stone for pubs and punters alike, being in the notoriously quiet patch between Christmas and Spring, it’s the pick me up everyone needs, “especially if you’ve just dragged yourself through Dry January” adds Paul Sunshine from local brit-punk band Murderers are Optimists. Paul and Joe Gonzo had grown up attending Fat Tuesday gigs and decided to form their own ‘lockdown’ band and perform at Fat Tuesday 2022. “We’d only done two gigs before, by the end of the night we’d done five… it meant we really found our feet as a band, there’s no frills, you plug in and play at venues you wouldn’t usually perform in, everywhere is transformed”. It’s this spirit of madness which is thoroughly embraced by both audiences and musicians and makes it the cherished event that it is. Bands might play in the window of a bookshop or to bikers at The Carlisle and then cram into The Nelson, performing to fishermen and their families.

Danny Horn & The Shared Myths are a fresh and fun folk band that play on Unplugged Saturday. “You feel like The Beatles in ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ or something, running through town with your instruments hooked under your arm, bumping into other running musicians, it’s a unique experience and part of the fabric of Hastings”, said Danny. It got me thinking that a modern-day Bayeux Tapestry would undoubtedly feature a Fat Tuesday scene, scribbly figures legging it along George Street carrying instruments and kit, necking a pint from their reusable plastic cup, scoffing a hot banger from The Back Door Sausage Hole (not a euphemism) and, of course, being stabbed in the eye by a decorated umbrella in the Kids’ Parade.

There’s such fun in just coming along and seeing it all unfold, watching a suited and booted woodwind classical quartet followed by some psychedelic troupe dressed in colourful whisps, some punk, maybe a sea shanty, finished with a Bollywood themed brass band.

The Unplugged Saturday and kid-friendly Sunday activities mean whole families can get involved in the fun. I distinctly remember Dragon Bar being overrun by wild toddlers at one point in the afternoon last year, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase “this place is like a creche”, and since 2021 the festival has spread to venues in St Leonards. “It’s been so great for people this side of town” says Chris from The Piper, “if for disability issues or other reasons people can’t get to the old town, it means they can have a variety of brilliant music brought here, to their doorstep in St Leonards… it brings the two towns together”.

Multi-talented local musician, Amie Tarrant and her brilliant band, Sistie Moose, are known for ending gigs covered in the bras of their audience members, like our very own Tom Jones. This Fat Tuesday spirit of connection and championing each other means so much them all. “It’s a pulling together of people…you get to know everyone on that day, all the musicians are supporting each other, sharing in the fun… it’s quite powerful and emotional, there’s just so much talent in Hastings”.

Over the years this place has undoubtedly nurtured and attracted musical beings, whether that’s artists, producers or managers, there’s a palpable creative energy here. Looking at the posters in The Piper, I got thinking of the legendary bands who played on the pier back in the day like The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Sex Pistols and The Who. This place has an important music history which the community continues to support, and Fat Tuesday only helps to keeps that alive.

But there will always be challenges. “To have this happen, there’s a huge amount of work that has to go into it from the organisers and the team, and funding is essential” says Chris from The Piper, who is clearly passionate about new musical talent. “We’re facing a problem across the whole country, the changing nature of the music business and the economic difficulties we face…the policies and programming issues, it’s been to the detriment of small and medium sized bands. Grass roots venues are closing in droves, diminishing year on year… and it’s so difficult to just break even. People don’t want to pay for music anymore”. It’s a point which hits home, as The Brass Monkey (where Fat Tuesday began in 2009), closed its doors last year. “Fat Tuesday… what they’re doing here, they keep the talent of this town thriving. It provides opportunities. A lot of this business is luck… being in the right place at the right time, and this event provides those right places and that right time”.

In recent years artists such as Green Tea Peng, Hot Wax, Nova Twins, Aircooled and Kid Kapichi have all played Hastings Fat Tuesday, and look at them go now! The whole event is so eclectic and exciting. It provides a space for artists to experiment and audiences to experience something new in the comfort of their local. The event has become embedded in the character of this town… so long may this unique and balmy bonanza continue.

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Check out hastingsfattuesday.co.uk for the full 2025 Hastings Fat Tuesday line up