Marvellous returns for summer
PUT YOUR dancing shoes on because Wokingham borough’s tribute festival is making a return this year.
Marvellous Tribute Festival, at Dinton Pastures in Hurst, is planned for the weekend of July 18 and 19, covid-permitting.
The popular, family-friendly event offers residents a chance to boogie to their favourite classics.
With a whole host of tribute bands already lined up to play this year, including Coldplace and Fleetwood Bac, co-organiser Steve Stanton said he cannot wait to see acts return to the stage.
“We’ve got an identical line-up to last year,” he said. “But we’ve still got one band to announce for the Saturday.
“I’m particularly looking forward to ELO — I think it will bring back a lot of nostalgia.”
Last year’s festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic — a decision Mr Stanton said was “very hard” to make.
“Peter Lincoln [festival coorganiser] and I also own a pub in Reading, so it was a double whammy cancelling Marvellous and closing the bar,” he explained.
“It was hard for the acts too, because for many of them their sole income is performing.”
But he said approximately 90% of last year’s ticket holders held on for this year’s event.
“We want to say a massive thank you to everybody who did that — it’s amazing,” he said.
“We’ve also managed to sell a shed-load more tickets, so it’s been very emotionally moving for us.”
At the moment, the organisers are planning to limit the 2021 festival’s capacity in light of the pandemic.
While 7,500 people usually enter the festival per day each year, Mr Stanton said 4,000 people, including staff, acts and volunteers, will be allowed on site each day.
And he said there is a lot planned for the youngsters too, including entertainment shows, a funfair, and a ‘big kids village’.
Marvellous Tribute Festival has been running since 2003, and has been held in Dinton Pastures since 2016.
Ticket holders for the 2020 event are granted entry into this year’s festival automatically.
Mr Stanton urges anybody who does not have a ticket to buy soon, with roughly 1,000 tickets left.