The Midlands Music Festival is an annual festival held in the Castle Grounds, in Tamworth

Tamworth

Tamworth is a town and local government district in Staffordshire, England, located north-east of Birmingham city centre and north-west of London. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through the town, as does the River Anker...

 organised by charity Just1Life. The first show took place on 8 August 2009 and featured top acts including Lemar

Lemar

Lemar Obika , professionally known simply as Lemar, is an English recording artist. Obika has had a run of chart success in the UK, Europe and Australia...

, Sugababes

Sugababes

The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...

, Blue

Blue

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...

 and JLS

JLS

- Music :* JLS, an English boyband** JLS , debut album by JLS* JLS a Spanish Rock band based in Zaragoza , Spain formed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic by lead Leo Susana.- Organizations :...

. It is estimated that over 15,000 people attended the event, according to BRMB

Brmb

brmb is a local radio station based in Birmingham, UK, owned and operated by Orion Media. The station broadcasts on 96.4 FM, DAB Digital Radio in the West Midlands and online...

.

2009

Main Stage: Blue, Sugababes

Sugababes

The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...

, Lemar

Lemar

Lemar Obika , professionally known simply as Lemar, is an English recording artist. Obika has had a run of chart success in the UK, Europe and Australia...

, JLS

JLS

- Music :* JLS, an English boyband** JLS , debut album by JLS* JLS a Spanish Rock band based in Zaragoza , Spain formed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic by lead Leo Susana.- Organizations :...

, Eoghan Quigg

Eoghan Quigg

Eoghan Quigg is an Irish pop singer and occasional actor from Dungiven in Northern Ireland, who finished third in the fifth series of the British television music talent contest The X Factor in 2008...

, The Automatic

The Automatic

The Automatic , are a Welsh rock band. The band is composed of Robin Hawkins on vocals, bass and synthesizers, James Frost on guitar, synthesizers, backing vocals and occasional bass, Iwan Griffiths on drums and Paul Mullen on vocals, guitar and synthesizer - since 2007...

, Liz McClarnon

Liz McClarnon

Elizabeth Margaret "Liz" McClarnon is an English pop singer, dancer and television presenter. She was a member of the group Atomic Kitten and originated the role of Paulette in the first UK tour of Legally Blonde the musical....

, Austin Drage, Rachel Hylton, Chico

Chico Slimani

Yousseph "Chico" Slimani is a Welsh born singer of Moroccan descent who rose to prominence in the United Kingdom after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2005 series of the talent show The X Factor. In 2006, he had a number 1 hit on the British charts entitled "It's Chico Time"...

, Andy Abraham

Andy Abraham

Andrew Abraham is an English singer. He was the runner-up in the second UK series of TV talent show The X Factor in 2005 to Shayne Ward, and also represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.Before applying for The X Factor, Abraham was a refuse collector...

, Laura White, Twenty Twenty, Everybody Looks Famous

2010

The 2010 Midlands Music Festival is a 2 day event on the 17th and 18 July. The Saturday is a "Back to the 80's" day and the Sunday is "The Biggest Chart Acts" Attendance levels are expected to reach 20,000.

The festival however, is not without controversy. Hosted in the grounds of Tamworth Castle, which is held in covenant for the people of Tamworth by the local Borough Council, many residents of Tamworth are aggrieved at the lack of accessibility to the grounds during the festival, effectively banning people from their own land.

Further controversy surrounds the billing of the festival as a 'live music event' amidst allegations that several of the major acts mimed during their sets in 2009 rather than performing live as billed.

Saturday: Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean is a Trinidad-born English Grammy Award winning popular music performer who had a string of rhythm and blues international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British-based R&B singer / songwriter of the early to mid-1980s...

, Hot Chocolate, Hue and Cry

Hue and Cry

Hue and Cry is a pop duo formed in 1983 in Coatbridge, Scotland by the brothers Pat Kane and Greg Kane . They had a number of modest hits in the UK Singles Chart in the late 1980s, and early 1990s, and have released sixteen albums from 1987 to date.-Career:Their first single "Here Comes...

, Kajagoogoo

Kajagoogoo

Kajagoogoo are a British pop band, best known for their hit single, "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 on the U.S...

, Level 42

Level 42

Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...

, Aswad, Sister Sledge

Sister Sledge

Sister Sledge is an American musical group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1972 and consisting of four sisters: Kim Sledge Debbie Sledge , Joni Sledge , and Kathy Sledge . They are granddaughters of the former opera singer Viola Williams. The sisters used to perform under the name of "Mrs...

, Shakatak

Shakatak

Shakatak are an English jazz-funk band, founded in 1980.-Career:Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top Ten hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" and "Down on the Street" plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness book of British Hit Singles...

, Alexander O'Neal

Alexander O'Neal

Alexander O'Neal is an American R&B singer. He is best-known for the songs "If You Were Here Tonight" and "Fake", and the duets with Cherrelle, "Saturday Love" and "Never Knew Love Like This".-Biography:...

, The Christians

The Christians

The Christians are a musical ensemble from Liverpool, England, who had several UK and international chart hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Band biography:...

Sunday: Westlife

Westlife

Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...

, The Saturdays

The Saturdays

The Saturdays are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London, United Kingdom. The group consists of five members Una Healy, Mollie King, Frankie Sandford, Vanessa White and Rochelle Wiseman. In 2007 the band were formed through Fascination Records which gave them an instant record deal with...

, Scouting for Girls

Scouting for Girls

Scouting for Girls are a Brit and Ivor Novello nominated band from London, formed in 2005 by Roy Stride, Greg Churchouse and Peter Ellard. Stride and Ellard met in the Cub Scouts and Churchouse met Stride on their first day at school. They have sold over 1.2 million albums and over 1.5 million...

, Alexandra Burke

Alexandra Burke

Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke is a British R&B and pop recording artist who rose to fame after winning the fifth series of British television series The X Factor in 2008...

, Chipmunk

Chipmunk (rapper)

Jahmaal Noel Fyffe known by his stage name Chipmunk, is a British hip hop rapper and songwriter from Tottenham, London....

, Peter Andre

Peter André

Peter James Andrea , better known by the stage name as Peter Andre, is an English-born Australian musician, singer-songwriter, television personality and businessman. As a recording artist, he has achieving four top 10 UK albums and ten top 10 singles.-Early life:Andre was born at Northwick Park...

, Taio Cruz

Taio Cruz

Taio Cruz is a British singer-songwriter, record producer, occasional rapper, and entrepreneur. In 2008, he released his debut album Departure, which Cruz wrote, arranged and produced himself. It achieved initial success in the UK and earned him a MOBO Award nomination...

, Olly Murs

Olly Murs

Oliver Stanley "Olly" Murs is an English singer-songwriter and TV presenter. Murs rose to fame after being the runner-up on the sixth series of The X Factor...

, Everybody Looks Famous, McLean, Twist and Pulse

Twist and Pulse

Twist and Pulse are an English street dance duo based in London. They are best known for being the runners-up of the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent, famously coming in second to Spelbound in the live final....

, The Wanted

The Wanted

The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band based in London, England. The band consists of Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker and Nathan Sykes. Their debut single, "All Time Low", was released in July 2010 and reached number one in the United Kingdom for one week...

, DJ Ironik

DJ Ironik

James Christian Charters , better known as Ironik, is a British musician, DJ and rapper. His genre of music varies from R&B, grime and hip hop....

, Connected (BGT Finalists)