Soaking up the sounds and sun at WV1 Fest - in pictures

Thousands of revellers headed for Wolverhampton's West Park at the weekend for a feast of music from the country's top tribute acts. The sun shone, the grass was dry for picnicking and spirits were high.

Music lovers travelled from across Staffordshire and the Black Country, and some from further afield, for the two-day WV1 Fest which featured 40 acts across two stages.

Highlights for many were tributes to the Arctic Monkeys, AC/DC, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Metallica, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Daft Punk.

Student Daniel Brindley, 22, who lives in West Park, only had to cross the road to event. He said: "It's been great - you get that same old Wolverhampton spirit at events like this. You meet up with old friends and make new friends, there's a great atmosphere.

"There's also the fairground rides, which are great for the kids and a laugh for the adults. Security is good, they're really on top of anyone trying to sneak in."

Friend Josh Custree, a 23-year-old operations planner for Severn Trent, agreed. "It's proper rock music. We've come both days and it's been really good."

Organisers distributed 10,000 free tickets across the two days, with festival goers only having to pay a £3.50 booking fee.

Tom and Anna Welch, from Halesowen, were there with their children Rosie, 12, and Rob, 10, and Anna's brother, also Tom.

"It's a good, cheap day out, although the tickets were a gift from some friends, so we didn't even had to pay the booking fee," said Tom, 50, an electronics engineer.

"We've brought a picnic so it's a really good family day out for all of us, although our son would rather be playing on his Xbox."

The only drawback was paying £4.50 for a pint, said Anna, who teaches mechanical engineering at Dudley College.

"Otherwise, it's been great. We've been here both days. I'm looking forward to seeing the Madness tribute act and Rage Against the Machine," she said.

The festival, which was launched five years ago in Manchester, Bolton and Preston, included Wolverhampton in its list of venues last year for the first time.

It is billed as the UK's biggest free festival and included a market, fairground rides, children's area, food stalls and bars. Entry was strictly by advance ticket with no one admitted at the gate.

Among those who attended last year's festival as well as this weekend's were father and daughter Gary and Skye Mincher, from Stourbridge, who made sure not to miss out on Sunday lunch by heating up chicken, carrots and potatoes - complete with gravy - on a tiny primus stove.

Both were looking forward to seeing tributes to the Arctic Monkeys and Foo Fighters. Health service auditor Gary said he used to feed Skye as a baby listening to MVTV2 so she had grown up liking the same music as him.

The 45-year-old, also a semi-professional musician, described the WV1 Fest as a welcome addition to the Black Country music scene.

"Wolverhampton has the Mecca that is the Civic Hall which has always attracted top acts, although I'd say Stourbridge has the edge at grassroots level.

"The really good thing about WV1 is the inclusion of non-tribute bands, who are young and up-and-coming. It's tough to open a festival in the middle of the day when only half the crowd is there but they made a good impact."

Skye, aged 13, who plays the guitar, ukele and piano, said The Charlemagne from Tipton and local band Fahran were particularly good. The line-up also featured a couple more Black Country bands - Hostile, who have just returned from gigging in Russia, and tribute act Pantera UK.

Event organiser Julian Taylor said Wolverhampton had been a hugely successful venue.