Wigan Live Band of the Year winners return to defend their title

Wigan Live, the towns biggest charity music festival, is back for a seventh year.

Oxbloods will be taking to the stage at The Boulevard, this Saturday at 11pm.

The four-piece band, made up of singer Charlie Cothliff, guitarist Matt Lunn, bassist Matty Ashton and drummer Alex Binnington, performed at the festival last summer.

They also won Wigan Live Band of the Year 2018.

Guitarist Matt Lunn from Wigan said: "We had a great time last year and it was definitely one of the standout shows.

"We were genuinely surprised to win. I remember us seeing the post and being amazed. We had only been an official band for a few months by that point, it felt like our hard work was paying off."

Wigan Live Festival showcases some of the most talented unsigned bands and soloists from the local area.

The two day festival takes great pride in representing many genres across six venues in the town centre.

Matt said: "Wigan Live is the right sort of platform needed to promote and grow the local scene. It's definitely more of a community feeling spreading the bands out between different venues.

"Over the past couple of years it's fair to say that the music scene in Wigan has been in a constant state of flux, but recently it's grown and become more prominent. With more stand out bands and venues doing more to promote the local area, I think it'll definitely continue to grow and improve."

Wigan Live Festival have chosen Macmillan for this year's charity and are hoping to raise more money than in previous years.

Matt said it's an honour to support such a great cause, as many people are affected by it every year and it's great to see that the festival are doing their bit to help.

Saturday August 17, 11pm. The Boulevard. Free entry. Wesbite: wiganlivefestival.co.uk.