MORE than 25 bands and singer-songwriters have been added to the line-up for Warrington Music Festival after organisers announced plans to extend the event.

Due to an overwhelming amount of interest from artists in the area, there will be live music on the evening of Friday, May 26, ahead of the main event during the bank holiday weekend. Burtonwood’s Slydigs will headline a day of performances from 22 Warrington and north west artists at the Old Fish Market on Saturday, May 27.

Then Cast, Space and DJ Clint Boon will close the festival on Sunday night, May 28. The Friday of Warrington Music Festival will also bring a new dimension to the free showcase with the artists spread across stages in more than 10 of the town’s bars and restaurants.

They include Anima Jazz Bar, The Lounge, The Auction Rooms, Hernando’s Hideaway, 9 Gallon, The Blue Bell, Las Ramblas, Barley Mow, Rag and Bone, Mojos, White Hart.

This means music fans can pick and choose the bands they want to see by moving between the venues. This style of event has become increasingly popular in recent years with rise of Manchester festivals like Dot to Dot, Neighbourhood and Carefully Planned.

Luke Scott, who used to be in Warrington band The Stocks, is managing the Friday night.

He said: “The demand for performance opportunities that we saw this year made us soon realise that we needed more stages. The logical solution was to extend the event to the Friday evening and involve more people. We approached venues and asked them if they’d like to be involved and the response we got was fantastic.”

Ian Cox, centre director for the festival’s host and partner Golden Square, added: “The tickets for Space and Cast went in hours, and the line–up for Saturday – with Slydigs headlining – is sure to be a packed-out day too. It seemed like a natural progression of the festival to extend it and widen both the opportunity for people in Warrington to hear great music and the platform for the talent to be showcased on.

“Luke is working with the individual venues, artists and promoters and those interested in attending any, or all, of the Friday night gigs can contact the individual venues direct to find out more.”

LINE-UP

Anima Jazz Bar

7pm Fort Myers

8pm Strangers

9pm Edits

10pm Pacific

11pm 16 Jackals

The Auction Rooms hosted by Miss Warrington

George Evita

Adam Bradbury

Kerry Sheree

Christopher Tavenar

Jam night sessions with Diz

Hernando’s Hideaway

9pm Joe Taylor

9 Gallon

10pm Kieran Gallimore

The Blue Bell

9.30pm Monty Due

Las Ramblas

10pm The Beard Band

The Lounge

7.30pm SlowHandClap

8.30pm The Capitals

9.30pm Peter Roch

10.30pm Polar States

11.30pm The Grand Illusion

Barley Mow with Kye Jones

7.30pm Wynn Warlow

8pm Ben Robinson

8.30pm Matt McClure

9pm Evil Piccolo

9.30pm Matt King

10pm Symbiont

Rag and Bone

7pm Joe Hatton

Mojos Bar and Tapas

9pm Kojo

White Hart

9pm dElectrified