Thank you from the Festival Team

AFTER the biggest and best Worcester Music Festival ever, what can we say but an almighty Wumu thank you to all the bands, artists, venues, promoters and volunteers that gave up their time for free to deliver an exceptional showcase of music over this year’s four day live music marathon.

Without forgetting the many thousands of festival-goers who came to watch the 400 performances and workshops that took place in 32 venues across the city, from pubs and clubs to historic buildings, cafes and outdoor stages. This distinctive event, which is going from strength to strength every year, couldn’t be done with the mammoth effort put in by all, fuelled by a mutual love for original music.

There were way too many highlights from hundreds and hundreds of acts to mention every one.

However, as a very small snapshot, we saw local band Jasper In The Company Of Others perform to  a pleasuredome of fans in the Marr’s Bar on Saturday, an almighty buzz that spurred them on to win a place in the final of one of the biggest battles of the bands in Europe the following night.

We were caught in a drift at Worcester Arts Workshop with cyber techno band V2A and their snow machine, fuelled by Theo at the Firefly, were wowed by The Five Divas in the Art House Café, and knocked into next week by the brother-fronted Nudybronque at The Gallery at Velvet Lounge.

We had our senses assaulted by the sassy Miss Neutron Bomb outside Cathedral Plaza, were gobsmacked by guitar extraordinaire Jon Gomm, while anyone who was in the Farriers Arms on the Monday of WMF will remember the deafening silence when 18-year-old Evangeline Cunningham appeared from nowhere to sing an impromptu aria at the acoustic folk jamboree, just one of a host of fantastic folk events over the weekend, primarily in and outside the Guildhall.

Alongside all the amazing performances and workshops, we were raising money for New Hope children’s respite centre, and we’d like to say a particularly big thank you to all the volunteers who collected money during the event, getting into the spirit by dressing as our WMF animal characters.

We’ve had so much great feedback already, which will be used to shape next year’s festival to bring you another gargantuan banquet of free, live, original music from the county and across the UK.

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who made 2012 the best WMF yet!

Lots of Wumu lovin’

The Worcester Music Festival committee