THE 34th Monmouth Music Festival got underway in fine fashion last weekend, with glorious weather, fantastic crowds and wonderful music.

Opening night saw The Caspiens take to the stage. A late replacement for The Pretend Poets, these boys confidently belted out Indie Rock and Roll and Blues across the Blestium Car Park audience before the main act Britpop Reunion wowed the crowd with covers across the genre including Oasis, Blur and Pulp.

Saturday saw the third Monmouth Busking Festival take place on International Busking day. Buskers played throughout the town and on the main stage at Agincourt Square. The evening warmed up with South Wales band 4th Street belting out their brand of stadium rock before the Kast off Kinks got the whole crowd hot playing all of the Kinks’ greatest numbers from Lola to Come Dancing. A party night to remember.

Support for the bucketeers was good and over £5,500 has been raised of the £25,000 needed by the end of the festival to ensure they make it to year 35.

“It’s been a fantastic weekend of family fun. Huge audiences, great music, a successful busking day and remarkable Carnival Sunday have delivered our best possible start” said Mel Ralph co-chair. “We want to keep this free festival going and it’s a joy to see how much it brings everyone together at this time of year. Please keep coming, keep us glass free, fill up our buckets and we’ll try and make it even better next year.”