Registered Charity No.

1120016

1996

Due to the success of the previous year, the festival moved to a bigger venue. Our new home was the Solihull Conference Centre. In excess of 30 bands applied to take part in this years festival but due to the constraints of time only 18 bands took part.

Once again the evening was a sell out.

1997

The festival grew again this year with the addition of an afternoon concert as well as one in the evening. A total of 30 bands took part in the concerts and the musical styles started to become more diverse with the debut appearance of a Percussion group and a Soul band.

1998

This year we moved to the NEC and it proved to be a big step forward for us. With a more prestigious venue we went looking for a more professional sound... That came courtesy of SSE, one of the biggest sound companies in Europe.
Again due to the amount of bands wishing to play, we had afternoon and evening shows. The quality, profile and excitement of the event kept growing.

1999

This year saw the festival grow in several ways. We increased the festival to 2 nights and replaced the afternoon concert with a day of workshops. These allowed students the opportunity to have a go and to give them an insight into the Rock & Roll industry.

As we now had the sound for the event sorted we focused our  attention on the lighting. This was put right by Stage Electrics, who, like SSE the previous year, joined our team.

With Stage Electrics on board the event now looked as professional as it sounded.
The 2 nights were again oversubscribed, too many bands not enough time, proving that things would have to change the following year if we were to continue to improve...

2000

This year we moved into the NECs top conference rooms, The Concourse Suite, the festival  increased to 3 nights and separate workshops were introduced for Junior School pupils.

The festival was now attracting attention from other areas of the country, most  noticeably Music for Youth, the MIA (Music Industries Association) and other LEA Music Services. In fact if it were not for the generous donations we received the event would not have taken place at all.

2001

This proved to be another major step forward for the festival. After attracting increased funding from the MIA we were able to stage the first ever National Rock & Pop Festival.

This featured some 80 bands from as far afield as Norwich, Stockton on Tees and the Isle of White.

The event was increased by an extra day to accommodate the 18+ bands each night.
During this festival the audience was treated to even more diverse music than in previous years. Music in the style of Big Band, Rock, Soul, Indie, Metal, Punk, Percussion, Orchestral and even a Brass Band. Proving that Rock & Pop can cross all musical boundaries.

We made the workshops free to all students and introduced a workshop for students with Special Needs.

As well as being supported by SSE and Stage Electrics, this year saw theintroduction of a totally new dimension...

MCL a major audio visual company provided a video wall, monitors and all of the vision mixing equipment.

2002

2002 was the 2nd National Rock and Pop festival to take place. It played host to over 60 bands from all over the country, this years show also saw an appearence from Lorna Want, who went on to play the lead in the West End production of Romeo and Juliet.

Over 40% of the bands who played came from outside the West Midlands. The quality and diversity of acts also improved, with the crossover between rock and classical greater than ever ...

Bohemien Rapsody had no fewer than 60 musicans on stage!

2003

This event was the most successful National Rock and Pop Festival to date! For four days and nights The NEC was again our host, and was visited by over 450 performers, 1500 workshop students and 2000 audience. The evening concerts featured between 13 - 15 bands per night, from all over the country. Some performers were just beginners other were more established, the standard again continued to be high. We had the biggest range of styles we have ever had from Ska, Soul, Metal, Rock, Pop, Choirs, Brass and Wind bands!
It all worked..............what a mixture!
Such was the success of the festival the organisers had to turn away over 40 bands!

The workshops places during the day for the junior schools were completely sold out...... over 600 students (and another 350 on the waiting list!). The students were given a band workshop by Solihull's own Mr Rob Craner, as well as drum and guitar workshops given by Yamaha and Roland. The workshops were then brought to an outstanding end, by a storming set from Soul Matters. In the afternoon, the same format entertained and inspired over 450 children with special needs.

The workshops/ clinics for the secondary/A level students were slightly different to the ones that had entertained the junior schools the previous day. Again the hall was a sell out, some 500+ students were treated to a fantastic composition workshop given by the world-renowned singer/songwriter. Chris Eaton....... remember ' Saviours Day'!

This was followed by guitar, drum and a band clinic, provided by Marshall and Yamaha.

2004

With the 2004 festival now over the organisers would like thank all those that participated in the event. Without the support of everyone who attended either as performers, sponsors, crew and of course the audience's the event would not be what it is today.

2004 photographs are availible to preview in the gallery, and order from the show photographer Andy Howes.

During this years show a diary has been kept to give everyone an insight into what it takes to make the shows happen.
Also added is a facts list to try and place some perspective on the quantities involved in producing the festival.