T-Vital Headliner Is Rap Star Eminem

The rap-star that took gangster rap into the mainstream in the 90s has been announced as the headliner for the T-Vital festival this August.

At a special launch night in Belfast's Oh Yeah centre last night, Tennent's Vital & MCD announced Eminem as their first headliner for the 2011 two-day festival, which will be taking place in Ward Park, Bangor.

The controversial rapper will headline the second day of the festival, on Wednesday 24 August while a full supporting bill is to be announced soon.

Tennents NI's Head of Marketing Aisling Duffy said: "We're delighted to confirm Eminem as the first headliner for Tennent's Vital 2011.

"Working with promoter MCD, we have pulled out all the stops to deliver an A List line-up for the festival's return and Eminem must be the biggest star we've ever had at Tennent's Vital.

"The excitement among fans to the news of the festival's return has been amazing, we've had over 14,000 fans on facebook already. So, we can't wait to share the rest of the two day line-up with them over the next few weeks."

Tennent's Vital only confirmed two weeks ago that the festival would return after a three-year gap.

"Since then, hype and speculation over the festival's headliner announcement, due at 8.00pm last night, reached unprecedented levels."

MCD's James Rollins told The Big List newspaper that the level of activity at the time of the 'reveal' crashed a number of the promoter's websites.

MTV rank Eminem as the 7th biggest icon in music history. He has sold over 86 million albums and this summer's Northern Ireland appearance will be his first.

Tickets for Tennent's Vital with Eminem, 24th August, will go on general sale from 9am Friday 3rd June. Tickets are priced at £49.50 including booking fee and are strictly limited to eight per person.

Find out more by joining www.facebook.com/tennentsvital

(DW/GK)