SPLITTING OFF THE NEW BANDS

There's been some complaints for the last few years that new, local talent tends to get swamped in the Liverpool Mathew Street Festival - the focus being primarily on tribute acts. So the people behind the festival have come up with a splendid idea: a second festival. Every May, there's going to be a free festival focusing on Liverpool talent. It's a nice move, although the cynic might suggest that for a band seeking an audience, having a slot in the middle of a the Beatles festival might be better than being shoved off into a late-Spring all new talent ghetto. Especially now the proper festival is going to concentrate almost entirely on Bootleg Beatles type bands. Even so, a high-profile new bands event on Merseyside is something to be applauded, especially since the demise of the Picket probably meant the Liverpool Now festival is as dead as a cat.

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