GLOBAL artists may have pulled the biggest crowds at Blissfields Festival last weekend, but away from the main stage punters discovered talented musicians from their home turf.

Winchester, Basingstoke, Southampton and more were represented on the smaller stages by acoustic acts, rock bands and DJs at Vicarage Farm.

On Friday night, the bilingual Josh Savage, formerly of Peter Symonds College and Westgate School, urged the audience to sing to his soft acoustic musings in French and English.

Others, like Southampton's Ben Goddard, have established themselves as Blissfields favourites. The singer-songwriter pulled a respectable early afternoon crowd despite announcing his set at the last minute. His band, the Heartbeats, includes South Wonston-born drummer Jim Benwell.

Dance fever set in later on Saturday as Bournemouth reggae collective Pachango and Owslebury-based DJ Polyblank got the crowds moving – but one band above all set Blissfields in motion.

Basingstoke's One Step Too Late sparked a giant conga line around the Den tent with their raucous covers of ska classics like Monkey Man and A Message to You. Festival organiser Mel Bliss took to the microphone to front their irresistible set, while her bandmates leapt from the stage to join the dancing.

Hampshire Chronicle:

One Step Too Late fronted by Mel Bliss (centre)

Festivalgoers escaping the madness at the Larch stage on Saturday were soothed by folk and blues guitarist Sam Brothers, a well-known busker on Winchester High Street, while Youngskin, the ambient brainchild of Winchester University student Greg Marriott, opened the stage on Thursday evening.