The Vamps and Melanie C send In It Together Festival wild as fans praise event

Festival season has well and truly started with over 100,000 fans flocking to Port Talbot, South Wales for In It Together Festival.

This year, the second edition of the event saw everybody from Melanie C, The Vamps, Anne Marie and Diversity taking to the stage over the four-day event.

While most festivals are known for their party atmosphere, In It Together certainly catered for all audiences, with dedicated areas for families and a whole host of acts taking to the stage.

Kicking off the celebrations on Thursday, pop royalty Natalie Imgruglia delivered a performance of her global hit song, Torn, before the likes of The Kooks, Kelis and The Vengaboys took to the stage on Friday.

Elsewhere, James Bay and Jake Bugg also entertained the packed crowd who had flocked to Wales’ “biggest and best festival” as they made the most of what was on offer.

From a relaxing yoga retreat area to a children’s play area and an Ibiza-esque dance tent, everybody was catered for.

Despite the festival being a four-day event, I headed down for Saturday and Sunday to make the most of the stunning weather which saw temperatures head into the 20s.

Rotherham natives The Reytons who released their debut album Kids Off the Estate in 2021 certainly brought the rock tunes as they celebrated their second record, What’s Rock and Roll, going to Number 1 in January – without a record label.

Ensuring that everybody could rock along to her set, Spice Girls legend Melanie C delivered a string of solo hits as well as some of her biggest songs from her back catalogue.

But in a bid to ensure people were at ease, she opted for an acoustic rendition of When You’re Gone featuring Bryan Adams (without Bryan being present).

However, Melanie made sure to treat fans to a few Spice Girls hits, days after Melanie Brown teased an announcement from all five of the girls was set to be released in the near future.

In keeping with her slowed-down set, the Whiston-born songstress treated fans to a solo rendition of 2 Become 1, with the audience joining in.

However, to keep spirits going, she broke out into Who Do You Think You Are? with all the original dance moves – with the crowd erupting into huge cheers.

Teasing fans, she kept her biggest solo hit I Turn To You until her last track, with an upbeat electronic remix as she danced around the stage before heading to the crowd to meet fans.

Hitmakers The Vamps certainly brought the energy as they continued their tenth-anniversary celebrations, performing their back catalogue including Wake Up, Married In Vegas and Can We Dance.

Despite initially bursting onto the scenes with a younger demographic, the quartet piece consisting of Bradley Will Simpson, James Brittain-McVey, Tristan Evans and Connor Ball had everybody singing along, with one man telling the Mirror: “They were the most energised part of the weekend, they were amazing!”

Lead singer Brad certainly wasted no time in getting to know the crowd as he leapt off the stage and headed down to the barrier to get up close and personal with the thousands of screaming fans.

One festival goer, nine, and her mum, who have been attending festivals since she was a young baby admitted In It Together is one of the best festivals they had been to.

But Saturday headliner Anne-Marie certainly delivered, with performances of her tracks including Unhealthy (featuring Shania Twain), Baby Don’t Hurt Me (featuring David Guetta) and Alarm.

Despite her set going on into darkness, everybody appeared in high spirits with the crowd going wild for each song with dancing left, right and centre.

The star even had one girl in the audience take on the role of KSI in their hit Don’t Play.

The weekend also ensures that Welsh talent is recognised at with over 50 artists from the picturesque country taking to the various stages.

Overall, In It Together is perhaps the perfect way to kick off festival season and I cannot wait for the 2024 weekend, which is on sale now.