In pictures: Stone Music Festival

What a great weekend!

This year’s Stone Music and Arts Festival could well have been the best ever. It had everything: great local talent, some good weather, a brilliant atmosphere in the town centre and some unashamedly crowd-pleasing headline bands.

Jimi Hendrix tribute Are You Experienced? kicked things off on the Friday night at the Crown Hotel launch party, with support from Stone’s Blueshounds. There’s some great video on the music festival website and it’s worth keeping your eye on the site over the next few days as there’ll be lots of photographs and videos uploaded.

Saturday saw the traditional busking competition – you couldn’t move on the High Street for performers – and a brilliant showcase of local young talent by Stone’s Ben Owen. Youngsters from the town’s Rooftop Studios entertained the crowds and headliners Slyde ended the day with some foot-stomping 70s glitz and glamour.

Sunday saw Sean Cannon, legendary frontman for The Dubliners, join our own Murphys Marbles for a brilliant set. The sun was shining,  the crowds growing by the minute and it was obvious we were set for another great day.

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Local band Lost Scenes played a storming set on the now-installed main stage at the top of the High Street, treating fans to some of the great tracks from their soon-to-be-released debut album. They’re a band it’s definitely worth giving some of your time to.

Back on the Market Square, another Stone band – The Formula – were really getting the crowd worked up with some belting covers. The sun was still shining and the dancing and partying was really starting to build!

Take That tribute band really attracted the crowds and there must have been 2,500 people in the High Street for their headline performance. The crowd loved it, singing and bopping along to the band’s greatest hits. Four ladies were plucked from the crowd for some TLC from the Retake That boys, with one mature lady enjoying it perhaps a bit too much, clutching ‘Mark’s’ backside like her life depended on it!

A MASSIVE well done and thank you to all the music festival volunteers for making it such a hugely successful event. Next year’s headliners have already been signed up – Soul Survivors and The Christians – so it looks like the festival will continue to go from strength to strength. Log on to the music festival website if you’d like to get involved.

There’ll be more photos and videos on the site later this week. If you’ve got some you’d like including, send them to musicfestival@alittlebitofstone.com