Work begins to turn Wolverhampton park into music festival site ahead of 10th anniversary of WV1 Fest

Large numbers of lorries and workmen could be seen inside West Park on Monday as the work began to create the two stages and festival areas for WV1 Fest.

The popular festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary on Saturday and Sunday, with more around 10,000 people expected over both days inside a wide arena at the city centre park and tickets selling fast.

The event brings the sounds of bands and artists as diverse as Korn, the Clash, Madness, Pantera and Metallica from some of the best cover and tribute bands in the country.

On Saturday, it will be a day for heavy metal, thrash and metal fans, with a headline set from Knotslip, a Slipknot tribute act, while Sunday will be a more varied day featuring rock, punk, hip-hop and even an Amy Winehouse tribute act, before headliners Link N Park bring the sounds of the punk nu-metallers as a way to close the festival.

There will be 24 bands in total, alongside a range of other attractions including a market place, fun fair and children's area, as well as a diverse mixture of food and drink items and several fully stocked bars.

Event organiser Jools Taylor from UK Tribute Festivals said the festival was looking to be a big weekend and said the layout of the park and the people who attended made it a special festival.

He said: "We began the set up on Monday and it's all looking really good for the weekend, with nearly all tickets sold for our 10th anniversary and what looks like good weather for the weekend.

"West Park is great because of the layout of the venue as we have two stages and it has a really good flow to it when people come here, plus it's always been really well received in Wolverhampton and it's just a really friendly crowd.

"It gets easier to run this festival each year and while there are challenges, be it the weather or something else, we find that this festival runs well and it's all worth the experiences that people have over the weekend."

Mr Taylor said there was also going to be a band playing on the Saturday which would be playing both Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne songs and there would also be a unique tribute to the singer at 9pm on the night.

He said: "Saturday is very rock and metal-orientated and, as part of that, we're doing what is proving to be a big attraction to everyone by doing a tribute to Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, following his recent death.

"The band are called Ozzbest and will be doing a full set before 9pm, before we pay tribute to Ozzy by, rather than a one minute silence, we're asking people to bark at the moon for one minute, which I think is very apt and in the true spirit of Ozzy Osbourne."

WV1 Fest starts at 11am on Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10 at West Park and tickets must be pre-booked for each day, costing £16.88 for adults and £11.25 for children aged between six and 17.

Saturday line-up

• Alice in Chains by Angry Hair

• Kiss by Dressed to Kill

• Rage Against The Machine by Rage

• Volbeat by Volbeaten

• Rob Zombie by Robbed Zombie

• Korn by Korn Again

• Ghost by Popestars

• Deftones by Deaftones

• Anthrax by Arranthax

• Slayer by South of Heaven

• Pantera by Pantera UK

• Metallica by Music Militia

• Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne by Ozzbest

• Slipknot by Knotslip

Sunday line-up

• Pink Floyd by Floyd in the Flesh

• The Darkness by the Darkest 

• The Clash by Death of Glory

• The Police by 5'0

• Eminem by Michael Mathers

• Madness by Mainly Madness

• Arctic Monkeys by Arctic Manckeys

• Green Day by Green Days

• Amy Winehouse by Amy Winehouse Experience

• Linkin Park by Link N Park