Picture Special: The Maindee Music Festival, Newport

Andy Howells checks out the first Maindee Music Festival featuring Genevieve, Araby, Ruby Kelly and Russ & Roll.

The first ever Maindee Music Festival took place on Saturday with open-air live performances taking place between 2pm and 6pm at the Maindee Triangle opposite Maindee Library.

The free to attend event which was funded by OneNewport with Newport City Radio, Maindee Library and Record One maintained a wonderful community spirit mixed with great music performances across the afternoon.

The summery weather was reflected in the music performed by the artists taking part, all local to the area and all carrying their weight in quality material and performance.

Among the artists featured were Welsh-born singer/songwriter Genevieve who blends jazzy, soulful vocals with gentle folk guitar. As well as performing original material Genevieve delivered her take on an eclectic collection of covers including Teenage Dirtbag, Hit the Road Jack and Son of a Preacher Man. I hope its not long before we hear more from this bright artist whose passion for music shone through her performance.

Singer-songwriter and storyteller Araby also delivered a strong set of original material including Crempog and Bulletproof and while stating that he was performing without his band, Araby still delivered an accomplished and enjoyable set.

The Maindee Music Festival was also fortunate to have local singer/songwriter Ruby Kelly performing at The Triangle. Ruby who is currently studying in Sunderland delivered material from her King of the world EP including the upbeat title track and Something in The Water. Ruby also delivered a superb rendition of the Eurythmics Sweet Dreams (Are made of this).  

Twin brothers Russ and Roll culminated music events at The Triangle with a selection of well-known tunes including Keeping the Faith, Lovely Day, Piano Man and Bridge Over Troubled Water. The duos energy saw them break free from the confines of the stage on occasion, much to the delight of the audience.

The afternoon also featured enjoyable performances from Nigel Blackmore, Maindee Primary school, Zoila Garman and an impromptu dance performance courtesy of Melan.

Well done to the community of Maindee, Newport City radio and their associates for putting this great event together. I certainly came away with some new material to listen to on my playlist! Here’s to the next event!