Music & more marvels

Family-friendly Marvellous festival at Dinton Pastures Country Park over the weekend of 21st & 22nd July promises tribute acts galore and lots more!

Our respect for the talent of tribute acts has risen to such a point that whole festivals are dedicated to them. This certainly makes economic sense: in this time of austerity how else can you enjoy Tina Turner, Coldplay, Pink and Led Zeppelin in concert?

One of the longest running and best tribute festivals is the suitably named Marvellous which returns to Dinton Pastures Country Park near Hurst over the weekend of 21st and 22nd July.

Marvellous features 15 top tribute performers who perform their pitch-perfect imitations all over the world. On the Saturday you can have a fiesta with Oye Santana, listen to when Sting was great with Police Force and enjoy the sounds of Ed Sheeran (minus 100,000 screaming teenagers) in Jack Shepherd’s tribute.

Marvellous is well known for serving up an eclectic mix of musical genres and eras, and this year you will be right royally entertained by tributes to all your favourite artists and more as well as a second stage marquee featuring a plethora of unsigned local talent. Kids of all ages will find plenty to do with fabulous fairground rides as well as loads of free activities in the Big Kids’ Village – including balloon modelling, arts and crafts, games, and face painting.

New for 2018 is the Silent Disco tent where revellers wear headphones and can switch between two channels of music transmitted wirelessly to them by the DJ – great fun to do and to watch! The festival offers both day tickets and weekend tickets, camping and glamping packages.

Then there’s Sir Tom (Jones), P!nk, and Definitely Might Be (Oasis). That’s another great thing about tribute acts – you can watch unexpected reunions such as the Gallagher brothers or even reunions from beyond the grave in the case of T Rextasy who support Saturday headliners Ultimate Eagles.

On the Sunday the fun continues with Bruno (not Frank; Mars), Sounds of Simon (& Garfunkel), Boot Led Zeppelin, Typically Tina, The Fillers (The Killers tribute), Legend (Bob Marley tribute), and the headliner Coldplace.

Tickets for Saturday or Sunday cost £43 (£70 for the weekend) for adults, and £20 (£35) for children. If you plan to camp – or glamp! – then there’s an additional charge. For more details and to book visit: www.marvellousfestivals.com