This visit was my first to FOCUS Wales, so it was gratifying to discover its strapline, “a world of new music to discover”, was exactly what I experienced.
Risk-Free
FOCUS Wales gives you the unique opportunity to experience music you’ve probably never heard before… and it’s risk- free because if you don’t like something, well, you just move on to the next venue conveniently close by.
The FOCUS Wales app too is really helpful for planning your visit. If you’re not into technology, each venue also has a gig schedule on-show so you can find out which artists are performing there.
It was fantastic to see Wrexham City Centre turned into a festival ground of established venues, tents and marquees. Drink prices were reasonable and the organisers didn’t put on their own overpriced food vans like you get at most festivals. Instead, FOCUS Wales concentrates on driving traffic to the local gastronomy outlets.
Truly Amazing
There were 20 separate venues listed on the app with over 250 artists from all over the world performing over three days, which is truly amazing. The musical genres on-show catered for every taste. From choirs, harpists, hip hop, jazz, rock, pop, psychedelic,
world music, punk to, well, you name it.
Coleg Cambria also showcased a number of short films supporting the headline feature, The Almond and the Seahorse, featuring Rebel Wilson.
Teepee
On Thursday evening, I started off with Mari Mathias and her band performing in the HWB (that’s the large “teepee” on Queen’s Square). She has a fantastic voice that she combines with some great musical arrangements.
I was part of a German quartet that had got together for the event. One lives in Saltney Ferry, and the other two came over especially to attend FOCUS Wales. We then moved on to the Royal Oak, where we saw the fabulous husband and wife duo Igloo Hearts performing for the first time. The next stop was St Giles, where we enjoyed the mesmerising harp play and the angelic voice of Cerys Hafana.
Cosmic Dog Fog on Rockin’ Chair Stage 1 were definitely one of the highlights – they put on a highly unusual show that never distracted from their catchy tunes.
On Friday, we kicked off with Bon Enfant in the Rockin’ Chair. Then, we went on to see Aberystwyth’s Ynys at the HWB. Afterwards, we were straight back to the Rockin’ Chair to see South Korea’s Sailor Honeymoon, followed by VOYA and Red Telephone.
Welsh Sunshine
On Saturday, we were in the Rockin’ Chair again to catch the amazing Sustinere, who left me astonished by how much sound two people can produce with just vocals, a guitar and drums. Following this, we ventured to the Fat Boar for our second helping of Igloo Hearts in their beer garden.
The weather was really perfect over the entire duration of the festival, and I think our guests from Germany were rather impressed by the Welsh sunshine.
Next venue: St Giles again, where the Gentle Good entertained the congregation with his hypnotic guitar and beautiful Welsh lyrics.
We just made it in time to see CVC (Church Village Collective) really get the Chair rockin’!
Baby Brave at the Wynnstay Arms were as great as ever, and we finished with a very late performance by the fabulous Kidsmoke.
I will definitely be back next year!
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