TWO up and coming bands performed headline sets at a new festival in Manchester last week.

R- Fest took place over seven days in Retros Bar with two stages and 100 bands performing throughout the week.

Northwich band, The Zangwills and Winsford band, The Luka State, both performed at the festival.

This was the first year for R-Fest and both bands seem certain that it will return after a successful week.

Adam Spence, drummer from The Zangwills, said: “It was amazing and it was great to be part of a line-up like that with so many fantastic bands.

“The sound guys working at the festival where absolutely unbelievable, considering they were dealing with two different stages there were no technical hiccups at all and the sound throughout the night was unbelievable.

“If they do R- Fest again we would be more than happy to play it again.”

There is not much time for rest for the four-piece indie band as they have another headline show lined up at one of Manchester’s most iconic venues, which they will be using to debut new material.

“We have another gig in Manchester in September at the Deaf Institute which we can’t wait for.

“We played the Club Academy in Manchester and had a great night but after it we wanted to have a look and see if we could get onto some of the small iconic venues in the city.

“Our manager Jackie did some research and managed to get us a headline gig there.”

Adam revealed that the band will be performing new material which could catch their fanbase, who have come to know every word to their songs, off guard.

The 19-year-old said: “That gig will be promoting an upcoming EP, so we will be playing songs that people will not know.

“Even before any of our songs had been released because we’d been playing them live so much that most of the people who watched us already knew the words.

“There were times on stage when I was wondering how the crowd knows the words when I don’t.”

This has been a landmark year for the young band and they are hoping they can keep the momentum going into 2020.

Adam said: “We really want to end this year on a high note. This has been our busiest year yet with sets at so many great festivals including, Dot to Dot, R-Fest and RivFest.

“Whether it will be with another live show or a new song release, we want to leave 2019 on a real high note.”

The Luka State also graced the Manchester stage during the week and it proved to be another gig to remember for the Winsford band.

Conrad Ellis, lead singer, said: “It was a really good night, it was a different type of festival as well because it was all in the one building.

“The atmosphere was brilliant and it was different for each band as well because people were going from one room to the other. It was a really cool idea for a festival because usually the stages are all really spread out.”

The four-piece band were impressed with inaugural event and Conrad did say that they would be happy to perform there again.

He said: “For the first one it was brilliant. There are always teething issues when a new festival starts but they really have started off on the right foot and I imagine it will only get better each year.

“We would definitely play again but to be honest we’d even play a gig in a garden shed, gigging is like bread and butter to us.”

The band have gained a reputation for being prolific with their live performances and they already have a busy summer schedule lined up, including a performance at Tramlines festival in Sheffield.

Conrad added: “We’ve been aiming to do 100 gigs in 2019 and I think we’re on 63 or 64 at the moment.

“There are no nerves in this band, we treat every gig like it’s Wembley Stadium and we always give it our absolute all because that’s what the audience wants to see.”