Sound City Ipswich organisers overwhelmed by audience reaction

An organiser of a town centre music festival said he was "overwhelmed" by the audience's reaction.

Sound City Ipswich was spread across five venues in the town, including the newly reopened Baths on Civic Drive.

US songwriter BC Camplight, rapper TrueMendous and Working Men's Club were among about 60 acts to play the festival on Friday and Saturday.

Organiser Joe Bailey said: "It was incredibly exciting to see the town flooded with people of all ages."

He added: "We were overwhelmed with the reaction by the audience."

In the 1960s and 1970s, boards were placed over the swimming pool of what is now the Baths so the venue could host the likes of Led Zeppelin, Cream and Rod Stewart.

"The Baths felt like it had always been a music venue," Mr Bailey said. "It looked and sounded incredible."

Sound City Ipswich debuted as a one-day event in the town in 2019 but last year's festival had to be cancelled due to the pandemic.

Mr Bailey said more than 3,000 people bought tickets for this year's event.

BBC Introducing in Suffolk had programmed music on a stage at the Cornhill, which was free to attend, but this was closed from Saturday afternoon due to heavy rain.

It was to focus on Suffolk-based bands and solo artists, and organisers said they hoped to arrange an opportunity for those acts who missed out to play at the Baths instead.

Mr Bailey said planning would soon begin for next year, and he hoped the festival would keep growing in popularity.

"We think it's essential to have music-based culture engrained in the town's future development," he said.

"We want to be a vital cog in the regional music scene as we feel East Anglia is under-represented."

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