ONE of Middlewich FAB Fest’s biggest headliners in its 26 year history has thanked the town after being blown away performing at this year’s festival.

The South, born out of 90s chart-toppers The Beautiful South, have appeared at Glastonbury and performed on stadium tours around Europe, but Middlewich FAB Fest 2016 could prove to be an unlikely highlight of the band’s illustrious career.

The band topped the bill on Friday night on the Market Field live stage, kicking off a weekend that saw more than 100 live performances as well as the inaugural Street Fest event.

Singer Alison Wheeler said: “I was really pleasantly surprised, it was a lovely evening. The audience was really receptive and everybody seemed to go away happy.

“It was only our second night back after about six months, so it was a bit of a break but we hit the ground running.

“I couldn’t fault it. We were made to feel very welcome – the crowd were great and everybody backstage bent over backwards for us. It was a really lovely evening.

“I am a bit bitter that my town doesn’t have something like this – it was such a great event. Why more towns don’t do something like it I don’t know.”

Middlewich Town Council says 5,000 people attended Friday and Saturday night’s concerts alone in what has been described as the ‘biggest and best’ year yet.

Jonathan Williams, Middlewich Town Council clerk, said: “We would like to thank everyone who volunteered and participated in this year’s Middlewich FAB Festival.

“This year has proven to be the biggest and best yet since the town council have been running the event, with a real international feel. We were even tweeted as far as Australia and the USA.

“We are very proud that Middlewich, a small town, has hosted such a successful festival with such a big impact."