Nick Heyward and Formerly of Bucks Fizz wow Brewood Music Festival
Getting a Eurovision winning group to grace a modest stage in a village school playground was another huge coup for a Staffordshire music festival.
But if the headlines today are to be believed, it was a £1m line-up at the Brewood Music Festival.
St Dominic's Girls High school was the venue for the festival, with hugely excited fans welcoming Cheryl Baker, Jay Aston and Mike Nolan who were the Bucks Fizz originals and Eurovision winners. They are now joined by a new fourth member Bobby McVay.
Just hours after delighting the Brewood crowds, the three originals found themselves splashed across national newspapers reporting that they had rejected a £1m cash deal for a reunion with estranged bandmate Bobby G.
The trio reportedly said there was no chance of a reunion with their ex-bandmate who they have been involved in a lengthy legal battle with.
But on Saturday night the crowd in Brewood was oblivious to the value of their entertainment as they danced and sang the night away to hits such as The Land of Make Believe and the 1981 Eurovision-winning Making Your Mind Up.
Cheryl, aged 62, joked about their Eurovision success saying: "Without Making Your Mind Up and velcro costumes, where would we be?"
The group also performed an eighties melody of some of the decade's best known songs, including Uptown Girl,Take On Me and Radio Ga Ga.
Next up was Nick Heyward, who openly chatted with the audience about the bygone era in between his songs. Fan favourites Whistle Down the Wind, Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) and Love Plus One were performed, but it was the 1981 top three hit Fantastic Day that saw the crowd erupt past the show's curfew. "I'm not usually used to this," Nick smiled, "it's mostly just on and off these days – so this is special."
The singer-songwriter was in the region just last month at Sandwell's Let's Rock festival.
Earlier on in the day a varied bill included The Lagan, Federal Charm and former X Factor contestant Luke Friend.
Jason Bate, organiser, said: "It couldn't have gone better, the weather stayed dry and everyone got into the spirit of things. "When we were trying to plan for this year it was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle but to have gotten the line up we have is fantastic news - especially for Saturday night too."
