BLUES mania descended on Upton-upon-Severn over the weekend to the delight of thousands of visitors.
The arrival of more than 20,000 people and dozens of bands to the town ensured this year’s Upton Blues Festival was its biggest yet.
Dubbed the UK’s biggest free blues festival, this year’s line up covered the broadest blues spectrum with a vast range of talented musicians taking to the stage.
As a first, this year saw the festival have its own dedicated FM radio station and the festival attempted to break a Guiness World Record by having 363 people playing ‘Always Look on the Bright side of Life’ on the Swanee whistle.
The main-stage music across the three days was said to be bigger and better with bands from America, Canada, Finland and France appearing as well as the ‘Best of British Blues’.
And the festival’s campsite saw more than 3,500 ‘short term residents’ set up in Fish Meadow.
Grahame Bunn, one of the festival organisers, said: “The reaction from our visitors has been overwhelming. Each year we try to bring something new and this year it was opening the main stages earlier, making more crowd space on the Riverside, the first ever FM blues festival radio station and our world record attempt.”