In-FOCUS

Heading to Wrexham on a sunny Wednesday afternoon in May, we didn’t know what to expect. We had heard good things about FOCUS Wales so the expectations were high, but this was our first time heading to the North Wales music festival.

We settled in and headed out to catch the first few acts on Thursday afternoon. As we held media passes we had the pleasure of photographing the vast variety of acts that had gathered in the then town of Wrexham.

Over the three days you won’t be able to see every artist, so you have to choose wisely. We had the pleasure of watching many acts over the festival with varying nationalities, genres and set ups. Today we bring you our TOP 10.

As hard as it was we have narrowed it down to whom we felt were exceptional in their performance, songwriting and left a lasting impression on us.

OUR TOP 10

by Kaysha Louvain & Connor Phillips

(In no particular order… CLICK THE ARTISTS FOR MORE INFO)

  1. JODIE MARIE

    How this phenomenal talent isn’t known worldwide is beyond us. Her voice was heavenly at St. Giles, the perfect venue for a perfect performer. Jodie had every single member of the audience in the palm of her hand.

  2. HENGE

    A truly out of this world performance. We have already put their tour date at The Fork & Tune, Cwmcarn in our diaries for later this year.

  3. YO DIABLO

    The Spanish rockers had us jumping from the very first note. Infectious finger picking style of guitar playing and rock n roll drums filled Hope Street Church. We cannot wait to see Yo Diablo back in the UK soon.

  4. IGLOO HEARTS

    The beautiful couple, Jamie and Katie, better known as Igloo Hearts gave us such a spectacular performance at St. Giles that we had to go and see them again at The Royal Oak. Beautiful harmonies and honest songwriting set these pair apart from a lot of other acts.

  5. THE CRAB APPLES

    The Spanish trio gave us an electric performance, performing in both Spanish and English, they showed us just how talented these ladies are. For us, The Crab Apples were exactly who we’d like to see in the modern charts.

  6. SUSTINERE

    Loud and explosive. This energetic duo set The Wynnstay Arms alight. An immersive performance that had us hooked from the very beginning. We must say, we meet these guys a few times over the weekend and not only were they great musicians but they were lovely people too.

  7. JONNY ASH

    We found Jonny Ash on day one at The Parish and they held such a high standard that not many rock bands touched them over the course of the festival. Ones to watch for sure.

  8. HOLLOWS

    Hollows weren’t on our original schedule, somehow this band slipped through the net. Thankfully Namasake pointed us in their direction, and we are very grateful. The Hollows lead singer had one of our favourite voices over the three days.

  9. BALIMAYA PROJECT

    A wonderful experience was had by all of us in a packed out St. Giles when Balimaya Project performed. The energy was pulsating throughout the building. To anyone that has the chance to see these, go, because you will not regret it.

  10. NAMSAKE

    Another band that nearly passed us by were Namsake. Thankfully we had arrived to see Sustinere early and we got to watch these five lads. From catchy songs to humorous interactions with the crowd they made it comfortably into our top 10 acts of FOCUS Wales 2022.

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FOCUS Wales 2022