More about: Focus Wales

This weekend a major cultural event occurred. This event doesn’t happen often but had visitors brimming with excitement and interest abound. That event was FOCUS Wales (obviously, what else is going on this weekend) and it delivered an eclectic taste of music that can take you round the world and back with ease. This year’s instalment of the festival had exciting new headliners in the forms of post-punk idols Billy Nomates and Squid – but also had indie legends The Coral closing the festival on Saturday night.

Before we get to that lets take a look at what Focus Festival had to offer in terms of the smaller acts on display. It could be hard for some to imagine the town of Wrexham hosting bands from the likes of Canada, Hong Kong, Spain, and many more, but as we know crazier things have happened in the town as of late. Hazmat were a first day surprise for me, and delivered noise-rock loud enough to shake the foundations of the legendary The Rockin’ Chair. Their set delivered roaring guitars, angsty lyrics, and plenty of passion, and by the looks of it the Wrexham natives brought the house down.

Billy Nomates closed out the first day of the festival with an energetic performance to be remembered. Strutting and bounding round the stage like Mick Jagger in his prime, she runs through her set with just as much energy. Delivering fan favourites like ‘Blue Bones (Deathwish)’ and ‘Balance is Gone,’ she kept the crowds attention from start to finish, just her and the stage, no backing band. 

Day Two was packed to the breaking point with amazing artists old and new. There was a juxtaposition of a double header at Glyndwr TV. Grimelda opened things up with their energetic experimental-punk, delivering noise loud enough to tear the roof of the studio. We then had the change of pace that was Haley Blais, a Canadian folk-rock/dream-pop outfit who delivered a beautiful set full heartfelt lyricism, mellow atmosphere, and a warmth that envelopes the room in the process. 

Other highlights from the day include XL the band, a four-piece alternative hip-hop/jazz collective from Canada, who got the room on their side very quickly. Prevail on vocals got the crowd excited with his fast and furious flows, while delivering a set full of with plenty of crowd interaction that left me in awe of how they command the room.

Back at Llwyn Isaf (the main venue) local lads TV-AM stunned the crowd with their entrancing psych-rock and Adam Curtis like visuals that populated the screen. Gallops were on next, and with the crowd warmed up they played their home town with their post-rock and electronica, and captured the rooms attention like a firefly in a glass with their psychedelic visuals. 

Squid topped the bill on day two with a performance that eschewed the hits some fans would have wanted, but still brought enough energy to fill out the tent. The band seemed like they wanted to take their time, not wanting to give the crowd exactly what they wanted, which has positives and negatives. Ollie Judge and co. managed still put on a passionate performance that was well worth their spot on the bill. Later that night we saw Bracco at The Rockin’ Chair, and that was an experience to say the least, with a heavy electro-rock vibe was so loud I could feel my ribcage rattle. The performance was intense to say the least, with energetic playing and suggestive sexual imagery throughout the performance, it managed to draw a large crowd and awe them with what they saw before them. 

Day three was full of performances again, with over 14 to attend. Hong Kong artist XTIE brought passionate indie-pop to Hope Street Church, while Bedroom Party followed with electro pop and good vibes in spades. Jack in Water was a nice change of pace, with his low key piano driven songwriting delighting the crowd in HWB Cymraeg.

Elsewhere before the big show, we had Laurance Anne, a Canadian-French collective with an expansive dream-pop sound captivate the crowd at the rocking chair. Ben Otewell delivered an intimate performance at Wrexham cathedral, with perfect acoustics allowing Ben’s vocals to echo off the walls, and in the process delivering a beautiful performance to a packed venue. 

The Coral were the main event of the weekend, with the crowd-pleasing indie stalwarts delivering a hit filled set to the crowd. The crowd gathered in anticipation beforehand, a palpable sense of excitement filling the air (along with plenty of vape smoke). There was even a broad demographic of people there, from Radio 6 dads, Radio X lads, and plenty of younger people as well. In all honesty though, beyond these stereotypes you had a group of people brimming with excitement at seeing the indie legends. The Coral didn’t disappoint at all, with songs such as ‘Passing On’ really evoking a communal feeling amongst the crowd. ‘Jaqueline,’ a slice of dreamy indie-pop went down a storm too – they really had the crowd in the palm of their hands. Although they played older fan favourites, they played songs from new project Coral Island which seemed to go down well amongst the crowd. Ending with ‘Dreaming of You’, the band really brought the house down, with cheers ringing out in Wrexham.

The night didn’t end there however, with Will Joseph Cook delivering delectable indie-pop at The Rockin’ Chair, gathering a crowd that got bigger and bigger as the set went on. Dream Wife stole the show however, delivering an extremely theatrical, energetic performance in room one. The atmosphere was absolutely perfect, with the bright stage lighting beating down on the crowd, the sweatbox nature of the venue, the smiles of people in the crowd – it more than delivered. Opener ‘Hey Heartbreaker’ sets the room alight, and the band build upon that with every song, their rockstar energy shining through. 

It's hard to sum up FOCUS Wales in a nutshell. The three day event delivered an eclectic set of performances from all around the world, brought excitement, discovery and much more. The atmosphere was always friendly amongst the festival goers and really delivered a sense of spirit that you could discover anything there.

See all the shots, captured by Kev Curtis:

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More about: Focus Wales