FOCUS Wales returns to Wrexham this weekend with organisers preparing to mark the music festival’s eigth edition, by welcoming more than 8,000 people to the town, building upon 2017’s record attendance across a jam-packed weekend of events.

“There’s no place like Wrexham during FOCUS Wales,” said organiser and co-founder Andy Jones.

“We showcase over 200 bands, fill out a variety of spaces and music venues, use 20 stages, host a full schedule of interactive industry sessions, stand-up comedy, arts events, and film screenings, throughout the festival.”

As well as welcoming music fans from as far afield as Australia and the US, this year’s conference, which takes place at Wrexham’s brand new arts and markets centre Ty Pawb, sees the biggest contingent of music industry professionals to descend upon FOCUS Wales to date.

Over 100 delegates will be travelling to Wrexham from all corners of the world, including Canada, Korea, Catalonia, France, Netherlands, Estonia, Sweden and Norway, brining their industry expertise and taking advantage of the fantastic line-up of music and arts taking place across the three day festival.

“We are really excited,” said Andy, speaking on the eve of the festival. “By this point we’ve been able to see what the ticket sales are and gauge what the audience reaction is and it’s overwhelmingly positive.

“There’s a real feel-good factor, especially when we

see people who have bought tickets and are travelling from abroad to finally take that holiday in Wales.”

With the spotlight on new Welsh talent, FOCUS has become a must-visit destination for those in the music industry hoping to unearth the next big thing and this year is no different.

“Many people really come here just for the new bands,” said Andy.

“In 2012 we had Catfish and the Bottlemen play the festival and of course they’ve gone on to be massive but each year we’ve had stories like that.”

This year, Andy is tipping Cardiff band Boy Azooga for big things but adds there that are plenty of other acts who could break through in the coming months.

“There really is something for everyone at FOCUS,” he said. “Little Destroyer, a band from Vancouver, are going to be a really big deal globally and This Is The Kit have just been nominated for an Ivor Novello Award, so we can be really proud of the line up.

“We want people to hop around from venue to venue, take a chance and enjoy the town at its best because at the end of the day FOCUS is all about discovery.”