This year saw both extra dates and capacity added to cope with demand, with new shows on the Thursday evening leading into the main festival running from Friday through to Sunday. With lots on to entertain fans of all ages, the festival is sure to be even bigger next year, with dates already announced.
The growing popularity of the event has helped to attract some big names too, with the focus on bands that were at their height back in the 80s, 90s and 00s reflecting the age range of the majority of the audience. With one main stage and ‘busking stages’ in key areas, this is no Glastonbury but it has something to keep everyone entertained from morning through until night.
The Thursday night teaser line up featured Badly Drawn Boy, China Crisis and Squeeze with Friday’s main show opening with the The Boo Radleys who got the growing crowd into an upbeat mood with their 1995 top ten hit 'Wake Up Boo!'.
Next up, Roachford played a poetic, polished, powerful set of intelligent soul-funk-rock. As talented a keyboard player as he is, the audience certainly appreciated his occasional forays out onto centre stage where his strong voice and infectious rhythm come to the fore with compelling songs such as ‘Only to Be With You’, ‘This Generation’ and his 1988 debut hit ‘Cuddly Toy’. Roachford is supporting Level 42’s tour later this year.
Republica’s 1996 hit ‘Ready to Go’ was the song that everyone will remember, nestled within an energetic set that appealed to fans on sitting on the pop-punk side of the fence.
Chesney Hawkes was up next; the shockingly youthful darling of 1991 who, reminiscent of Rick Astley, continues to prove that he’s not a one hit wonder with a variety of thoughtful, smart pop songs including a selection from his new album, ‘Living Arrows’. He included a nod to mentor Nik Kershaw who played last year’s Britfest and wrote Hawkes’ big breakthrough hit, ‘The One and Only’, by playing a very kershaw-esque cover of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’. A genuine crowd pleaser, Hawkes’ energy and joy definitely lifted the audience, now more than 7,000 strong, to a high.
Toploader had the crowd on their feet, ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ to their millennial hit, itself a cover of a song written in 1970 by Sherman Kelly. Their clever cover of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’ was a strong point of their set and suited lead singer Joseph Washbourn’s voice perfectly.
Razorlight closed the Friday line-up with a rousing set, peaking appropriately for the 4th July with their 2006 hit ‘America’. To keep the festival-goers busy in between days and sets, there was plenty on offer. A very wide range of food and drink options with something to suit everyone, from fish and chips to paella and from regular bar drinks to fancy cocktails. Crazy golf and a funfair provided carefree entertainment whilst yoga sessions and a firewalk catered for the more spiritually minded. Space for camping and motorhomes with high quality facilities made the overall weekend stay a good option for those travelling from all over the country and even Europe to see the well thought out selection of music.
Blancmange opened Saturday’s proceedings with a gorgeously underplayed version of Abba’s ‘The Day Before You Came’, presented in an even more sombre tone than their 1984 cover of the song. Neil Arthur brought his dry Lancashire wit to the set, engaging with the audience, even enjoying the wild costumes and dancing from those crammed at the front of the arena for a set featuring not enough of Blancmange’s immense catalogue of carefully crafted synth pop compositions. It seemed like the crowd could have listened and danced all day.
One of the smartest choices from the festival organisers was to have a group of artists making up a large chunk of each day in quick succession with the same band. It made for fast turnarounds and kept the crowd’s attention in the long stretch between the longer sets.
Opening this section of the day came Cutting Crew with ‘One for the Mockingbird’, a powerful, rousing song about overcoming the barriers of criticism. Nick Van Eede gave a strong performance, his voice as good as ever and with joy written all over his face. For live shows, he has partnered with guitarist Gareth Moulton who has done a tremendous of getting his head around the Van Eede’s source material and taking it to a new level which his stunning musical skills which were showcased beautifully with the evergreen hit ‘I Just Died In Your Arms’.
The real downside of this fast turnaround approach was that each band had a short set when they seemed to be having so much fun that they could have played for much longer - and the audience certainly would have loved that too.
Hue and Cry were up next, the Scottish brothers Greg and Pat Kane who since 1986 have fused pop, soul and jazz in a unique style which has leant itself both to stripped back acoustic shows and full band performances like this one. At one point, singer Greg said that he was reluctant to release the single ‘Labour of Love’ because he didn’t think people would dance to it. Well, thousands of people in a field in Altrincham proved that they could.
The back to back sets paused with Katrina of Katrina and the Waves fame. Her strong rock set was reminiscent of other legends such as Britfest 2024’s Bonnie Tyler and Kim Wilde. Peaking with the 1983 feel-good hit ‘Walking on Sunshine’, her set led into a welcome break for the band and something completely different for the crowd.
The fun sing-along section of the day this year came from Black Lace, famous for their energetic brand of party songs. In keeping with this, they staged a world record attempt - the most people dancing ‘The Hokey Cokey’.
With the excellent support band back on stage, The Fizz made their entrance to a video showing their iconic Eurovision win back in 1981. If you don’t remember such a band then that’s probably because they were called Bucks Fizz but due to an unfortunate legal dispute the two original girls, Cheryl Baker and Jay Aston continue to perform with two new hires under the name The Fizz. Their set was a well choreographed, theatrical, joyful celebration of everything that’s Great about Britain.
The final set for the support band was with the living legend Midge Ure. Ure is known for his huge influence on the synth-pop movement through bands such as Ultravox and Visage as well as his time in Thin Lizzy and of course his central role in the original Band Aid and Live Aid movements to provide aid to the catastrophic famine in Ethiopia. Music is to Blame covered his 70th birthday party at the Royal Albert Hall and he shows no signs of slowing down with his voice back on form and his musical maturity adding new depth to those 80s classics such as ‘Hymn’ and ‘Vienna’.
Taking that synth-pop train to its final destination, another band covered previously by MITB took over the stage with a visually and sonically stylish set. Thompson Twins aka Tom Bailey played a broad selection of hits, marking the transition from day to evening with their contrasting white outfits and colourful stage lights.
Sadly the weather was not in Bailey’s favour when the giant red ball came out for ‘You Lift Me Up’, making it just over the crowd line before disappearing up into the breezy twilight sky. The band didn’t miss a beat though, leading the audience to join in as one giant choir with the smoochy 1983 anthem ‘Hold Me Now’.
Saturday’s incredible line up concluded with the pop-reggae sound of UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, not to be confused with the other UB40 due to another naming dispute. Campbell’s voice is as distinctive as ever and a strong support band really wound back the clock to 80s classics as diverse as the reggae ‘Food for Thought’ to the late night dance floor filler ‘Red, Red Wine’.
Sunday’s show included another terrific line-up of Shakatak, Let Loose, Doctor and the Medics, Johnny Hates Jazz, Tony Christie, Incognito, Go West and 10CC. All in all, Britfest is a wonderfully varied weekend, themed around late 20th century pop and the celebration of all things British within that, from typically unpredictable weather which the crowd took in good humour through to fish and chips and even the ‘Hokey Cokey’. It’s a festival which deservedly grows and evolves each year to deliver something new, exciting and definitely worth a visit.
Britfest 2026 will take place at the Ashley Hall Showground near Altrincham, Cheshire from 2nd to 5th July with tickets and details available closer to those dates at thebritfest.co.uk
Peter Freeth
Images: Peter Freeth
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