大象传媒

Set beneath the rolling beauty of the Prestbury Hills, major acts this year included , , , and Craig Charles.
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As always, 大象传媒 Hereford & Worcester had a stage at the event - and this year we took over the entire Friday in one of the tents.
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Instead of having acts scattered across the whole weekend, every act on the opening day was chosen by us.
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The Dogs of Santorini aren't actually from Santorini. They aren't actually dogs, either.
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They're a band. They're also from Malvern and Worcester.
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The band members are very prolific on the local music scene and have a hand, and all four legs, in organising Malvern Rocks.
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They describe themselves as "more rock than punk" but "more punk than rock". Confused? We certainly are.
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What a weekend it's going to be for some of our top local musicians at the Glastonbury Festival.
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Worcester's are played the John Peel Stage yesterday, Hereford's played the Small World Stage at midnight and is back on the Croissant Neuf tomorrow at 4pm before heading to The Bimble Inn on Monday at 12.15am.
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Kington's played the Avalon Stage yesterday at 6.35pm, Malvern and Kidderminster ex-pats are playing the Croissant Neuf at 1am and Worcester ex-pat is at the Rum Shack on Monday morning at 1.30am.
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Bromsgrove's has been offered a reserve slot and Worcester's also have a headline spot after widespread coverage in the NME and after being featured in the Olympics last year.

This year's event is having to be stripped back to basics because of falling visitor numbers - so we've sent Andy O'Hare along to bolster numbers!

The festival was moved out of town several years back because of rip-roaring success - but plagued by flooding, the organisers have had to count their losses and feel the time is right to bring it back into the local venues.

This year they've broadened the scope to include jive, swing, boogie, comedy, dance, rhythm & blues and jazz.

This week, Andy reviews...

• Wizard Fight & Skinhorse @ The Pig 'n' Drum, Worcester
• Black Art, Weathered Hands & Crooks @ The Herdsman, Hereford

In 2012, - from Worcester - gigged about 70 times, practiced 150 times and you could probably throw in another 20 solo gigs and 40 open mic nights where all the band pretty much turned up anyway.
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They make their own T-shirts, their tour bus is run on bio diesel, which they refine themselves, and they make their own music videos.
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There now appears to be three West Fests in 2013 - one in West Didsbury and one championing dance music!

But this one takes place in West Malvern once a year and promotes, encourages and showcases musicians, artists, craftspeople and performers from the local area.

West Fest is a non-profit organisation, with proceeds distributed to organisations within the vicinity.

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A Worcester filmmaker's series looking at music production in the county has proven to be so successful, he's launched a second series!
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Jim Lowe's On The Record documents what life's like on the road for our local industry professionals.
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This week we hear from Worcester's Tonina Westgate, who lived in California for a number of years.
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She draws on the comparisons between the music scene in Worcester to that of the other side of the pond.
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This is a fully-covered event which features nine hours of nationally acclaimed blues music from six bands with over 25 performers.

Artists include Wille & The Bandits, Ricky Cool & His All Star Band together with Sarah Warren, Steve Ajao and Stomp & Holler.

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