South Wales band is confirmed for festival
HOMETOWN heroes Pretty Vicious have been announced as the Friday night headliners at this year’s Merthyr Rising.
The gig on Friday, May 26 will see the band, who last played the town as support to Madness at Cyfarthfa Park last year, headlining the Unison stage at the cultural gathering.
The Merthyr firebrands, who have supported Stereophonics and Noel Gallagher and are signed to Virgin-EMI in the UK, last year signed a deal with Island Records in the US and will release their debut album later this year.
Merthyr Rising will be held across the week of May 22-28 at venues around the town centre.
Stereo MCs and Alabama 3 have already been announced as the headliners for the festival’s Saturday and Sunday night slots. Electro hip-hop outfit Stereo MCs, who scored a number of hits in the early ‘90s with top 20 singles such as Connected and Step Up, will take to the Unison stage as Saturday night headliners.
The closing slot on the Sunday evening of the festival will be headlined by rock ‘n’ soul exponents Alabama 3 – a performance that will be especially memorable for the band’s frontman Larry Love, who is from Merthyr.
Now into its fourth year, the 2017 Merthyr Rising festival will feature a number of new additions, including a week-long film festival leading up to the main event.
The news of Pretty Vicious headlining the Friday night slot comes as Merthyr Rising has launched a poster campaign with a difference – with local people as the stars.
The festival has issued the posters as part of an eye-catching advertising campaign.
“The adverts feature local people who have kindly offered to model for us,” explained Lyn Williams, one of the co-founders of the Merthyr Rising Festival.
“The objective of the ads is to position and differentiate Merthyr Rising as a festival for the common man,” he added.
The images are shot by photographer Ian Munro.
Tickets for the festival are on sale now from www.merthyrrising.uk
See more of Ian Munro’s photography at www. ianmunrophotography. co.uk