Imagine a pub on the fringes of a town centre, with a decent plot of land at its rear and a bunch of enthusiastic, local music-lovers who possess a burning ambition to entertain the whole local population. Well, that’s what the annual Pigstock Music Festival is all about.

On entering the venue I was greeted by two handsomely dressed stilt-walkers followed quickly by a surprisingly well organised and efficient box office. On my right was a fenced-in area designated especially for the children with stalls, bouncy castle and numerous other entertainments. Ahead of me was the large, mobile stage flanked by various tents, on-site amenities and straw bale seats. Wandering amongst the sparse early pm crowd were uniformed crew members, a subtle security presence and essential medics. Above me was a blanket of grey clouds, occasionally traversed by Herring Gulls with a watching for the remnants of takeaways.

The scene was set for the first local act to get proceedings off to a bright start. And the five-piece MK Band did exactly that with a strong and tight display of country rock. The sound was excellent and from the look of the line-up, listed in the well presented event brochure, Pigstock on offer was an eclectic range of acts to meet just about everybody’s musical tastes.

Next up was an impressive young indie rock band called Katch. With two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer, the band provided a melodic and tight set. Underpinning the band’s music was a strong, expressive vocalist and songs with an emotional edge. The closing song, Dreaming, was especially interesting.

During the first two performances a constant stream of people entered the field and it seemed to me that it wouldn’t be long before the venue would be filled close to its 2,000 plus capacity. With the stilt-walkers now wandering around the field entertaining the many children present, the enticing smell of barbeque in the air and balloons aplenty, the atmosphere was just what the doctor ordered.

As I sought out people to photograph, Epitaph took to the stage with their brand of attention-grabbing, bluesy rock. One tends to forget that there is so much unsigned quality musical talent around the UK that grabs every opportunity to perform, entertain and develop. Epitaph was no exception and provided a more intense set of good songs.

Six-piece band Hooper hail from the nearby coastal resort town of Rhyl, and underlined its origins with a rocky set of original songs and Beatles covers that provided a vibrant holiday/fun atmosphere to proceedings. It was yet another tight performance with their excellent version of Helter Skelter a major highlight.

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The Welsh language is used extensively in North Wales and so it was appropriate that a Welsh band should appear at this market town event that sang in the language. Y Moniars is also a band that speaks many languages musically. With a wild sax player dominating several of the songs, two vocalists and a rousing closing rendition of La Bamba, the band had the punters off their bums and dancing for the first (and not the last) time.

This was turning out to be a really enjoyable family festival. As I pondered whether I should get my palm read at a nearby tent, the efficiency of stage management and rapid changeovers meant that I had to rush back to the launch pad to catch an artist I have already seen perform at a local acoustic night.

Sarah Davies is undoubtedly one of North Wales’s musical treasures. She is a singer/songwriter with a distinctive, powerful, expressive voice whose songs plumb the emotional depths. She also majors on stage craft and connects with an audience quickly, and doesn’t let go. And this gig was no exception. After greeting the audience, she proceeded to give a performance to remember to an audience that responded with genuine enthusiasm. Sarah’s father is also a well known and popular North Wales musician who would be performing a little later with the notorious Giro Gypsies.

By the time Sarah had completed her excellent set, the crowd had trebled in size and the atmosphere was vibrant. A good time then for the next band to raise the bar a little higher in the fun stakes.

Mid Life Crisis is a five-piece, Denbigh based rock band comprising of veteran performers with a love for rock classics. The band treated us to a string of songs by The Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen and other seminal rock acts, performed with verve and dexterity. With this boisterous performance, the fest had reached its mid-point with punters still continuing to stream in to taste the delights of this excellent local event.

A late entry to the day’s line-up was Mooi, a Wrexham based female duo. Rachel Lloyd and Laura Dickenson have been performing together for a few years, and have also sung with other bands. Along with the wonderful vocal and instrumental talents of guest and friend, the Benjamins’ ( a Wrexham based rock band) leadman Matt Nicholls, Mooi perform music ranging from the most fragile, haunting introspection to soulful blues (when Matt takes over lead vocal duties).

Opening with Laura and Rachel singing their self-penned, super-gentle songs, the girls provided a restful interlude to the day’s frenetic musical menu. Then Matt left his position behind the keyboard to lead the vocals accompanied by his trusty acoustic guitar. Matt is an extraordinary talent that I have written about many times in the past. Like the girls from Mooi, Matt exhibits sincerity and rare depth of feel for the songs he performs.

As is usually the case, the girls provide a stunning set of backing vocals to a young man with soul music in his blood. I’ve said it before and I will continue to say that in Matt Nicholls Wales has one of the finest vocal performers in the UK. It’s a view that has been echoed elsewhere, including at this festival with the enormous response he received.

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Time to rock out again and this time by a band that appeared to possess a tremendous local following. Straitjacket is an out and out rock local band that performs self-penned songs and a vibrant set of covers. The animated and tight performance generated the biggest audience response of the day from a band that oozed confidence and authority. And also for the first time the punters crowding the front of the stage were seen to mouth the band’s song lyrics, with extreme enthusiasm.

During the day I had been told about a young band called Gintis who were beginning to make large waves locally and smaller ones nationally. I habitually seek out the new and the good, so this performance promised to be interesting. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, and was the sole disappointment on a day packed with the most entertaining music. To me, the guys lacked songs, talent and any degree of stage craft. In short, they bored the pants off me.

I left the stage early and wandered over to the organiser’s mobile office where I met up with Amy Wadge. I have seen Amy perform on a couple of occasions, and her achievement of winning the accolade of Best Welsh Female Solo Artist in the Welsh Music Awards for two years running was more than justified.

Amy is one of those rare, recognised artists who prefers to work and record independently (from the major labels). Without a mega promotional budget at her disposal it means that she has a hectic tour schedule to promote herself, and she told me that in 2004 she has already performed over 140 live shows. Included were shows with the legendary Jeff Beck who personally requested her as main support act. I also asked when we could expect a new album and she advised me that she was working on new songs with a possible release around March 2005.

Amy’s first full album (WOJ) was excellent and she has that uncanny knack of writing songs which combine strong melodies with emotional depth. She’s also a very fine performer with a distinctive, powerful voice and vibrant stage presence. In fact she’s a very attractive, diminutive fire-cracker strong on professionalism (she arrived several hours before her scheduled performance) with a commitment to providing her audiences with the best possible show.

It was time for another firecracker – of nuclear proportions as it turned out. I had already witnessed a performance by Sarah Davies’s father John Sellars a few months ago in a Denbigh pub, and was mightily impressed. He’s an ebullient character with blues and soul throbbing through his veins, and a voice to match.

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The Giro Gypsies is his band and has thrilled North Welsh audiences for several years. But I never seen the band and certainly was not prepared for what was to come.

As the previous stage lighting turned from pristine white to a range of vivid, glaring colours, the band pounced onto the stage led by Sellars, almost unrecognisable in his silky leopard suit and red-powdered face and hair. I’ve seen literally hundreds of live performances, including the extrovert antics of The Darkness’s lead man, but I have never, ever witnessed anything like this – believe me!

Sellars’ band was also colourfully attired with a keyboard player looking cute in a long-haired lady’s wig, with bare, hairy legs poking out from underneath his instrument. Providing backing vocal support was Sarah Davies sporting an evil red pair of devil’s horns. The scene was set for a show that brightly lit the darkening skies.

Sellars threw everything at us including some exciting covers of songs that have become rock/blues/soul classics, and an animated performance which took him to every part of the stage. It was an extravagant performance, the like of which I will probably never see again (on second thoughts, I probably will since the standards set by this festival will have me coming back for more next year if I’m still around and healthy). Vocally and instrumentally, it was magnificent, and as I stood by the side of the stage I could see the next performer Amy Wadge shaking her heard as if to say, ‘hell, how do I follow that?!’

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When the heart-stopping, Schumaker-paced set came to an end, Amy and her band trundled their equipment onto the stage ready for the challenge in front of a near capacity crowd.

She turned up trumps with a performance of quality and absolute commitment, despite problems with her guitar amp. Singing songs like Valley Boy, Scream, Paris and Prophet, she proved just how good she is, and how lucky Pigstock was to sign her for the festival.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before the end of Amy’s performance and that of the other headliners Bleeding Hearts and Goodfellas. But I had seen and experienced enough to know that this was a festival that will continue and prosper.

A few days earlier I had seen The Alarm, based just a few miles away from Denbigh, perform a stunning set in front of just a couple of hundred people in Manchester. This festival should have been on the band’s tour schedule and would have gone down a storm with a much larger local audience. The organisation of the festival was faultless, and the facilities for everybody were first class. There may be bigger festivals but for the people of North Wales, Pigstock is a musical and fun treat for the whole family just waiting to be discovered, and for just £10 per adult head, incredible value.

My day had started badly with the awful demise of a Seagull chick I had been looking after for the past 4/5 weeks. As I looked at the Seagulls soaring and hovering over the festival, I thought of PJ (Polly James because I didn’t know its gender) and of how it had been so dreadfully robbed of a sky-bound future. The Pigstock festival helped cheer me up a bit, so I dedicate this report to the organisers and friendly crowd. I also dedicate it to a beautiful, and intelligent young feathered friend whose brief existence, which ended that morning, added something very special to my life.