Malvern Rocks music festival to return after seven-year absence

Malvern Rocks was first held in 2012 after a group of musicians decided to create a weekend-long celebration of music.

The inaugural festival saw more than 70 performances take place in venues around the town.

But festival organisers decided to take a break in 2016 to focus on other projects.

Vault of Eagles at a previous Malvern Rocks (Image: Malvern Rocks)

Now Malvern Rocks is back and promises to be bigger and better than ever.

From July 28-30, gigs will be taking place in Bar Limon, Malvern Lounge, The Morgan, The New Inn, Newtown Club, The Red Lion in St Anns Road, The Red Lion at Stiffords Bridge and on Belle Vue Island.

Dozens of bands will be playing across the three days of the festival - full details are available on the website malvern.rocks.

Organisers say there were more than 400 Malvern Rocks gigs between 2012 and 2015, with many venues full to capacity.

“With applications to play coming in from all around the UK while managing everything from the website to band and venue liaison, running the festival became a mammoth task which began six months before opening night,” a spokesperson said.

Bar Limon is among the venues for the festival (Image: NQ)

“Our aim has always been to promote live music, to nurture new talent and to capitalise on our vibrant music scene. We wanted to make Malvern a destination for music in the way that Hay on Wye is for literature, Wenlock is for poetry or Upton is for Jazz.

“It’s difficult to estimate how many people have attended Malvern Rocks events but with reports of full venues (several have actually run out of beer during the festival) we estimate our attendance to be (conservatively) between 2,000 to 3,000 people.”

This year, for the first time, all artists and musicians performing at the festival will be paid.

Festival-goers are being asked to support this financial commitment by buy Malvern Rocks merchandise from the website, donating to its funding page or by becoming a patron.