The South bring eighth Feel Good Festival to a tremendous close

The South
Rochdale Feel Good Festival 2015

23 More Image(s) In Gallery

Scroll down for Video

The eighth annual Feel Good Festival was brought to a tremendous close as The South headlined the main stage.

The nine-piece band took to the stage and played many of their hits including ‘Old Red Eyes is Back,’ ‘Good as Gold’ and ‘Don’t Marry Her.’

The South are a reformation of the Beautiful South who split in 2006. Several members of the band weren’t ready to let it go, so two years later singers Alison Wheeler and Dave Hemingway, along with Damon Butcher and Gaz Birtles, formed The South.

Speaking to Rochdale Online before taking to the stage, Alison said: “We haven’t been to Rochdale before so it has been nice to come. We got here a few hours earlier and had a look around. I went to the shopping centre and met up with some loyal fans, so it has been really good.”

This was the first appearance at the Feel Good Festival for the band with Alison praising community festivals like Feel Good.

She said: “My council don’t do anything like this so it is nice to see Rochdale leading the way. It is a great event and the line up is great.

"I have managed to see a few of the performers and to be on the bill with Toploader is fab. I remember listening to them on my radio so it’s nice to be here with them.”

Before taking to the stage and performing in front of thousands of people, Alison took part in the town hall abseil.

Describing the experience as “horrible” she said: “It was horrible! I did an abseil three years ago down Battersea Power Station and that was a flat surface. What they didn’t tell me about this one was that there were windows and ledges and all sorts of things to compete with. I just thought ‘why not’ and did it and it was for a great cause.”