Sun and stars come out for musical feast

Thousands of pop revellers will be making the most of the weather at Worcester's XS2003 pop festival today, which is expected to be bigger and better than last year's event.

People were already queuing outside the New Road venue at 6am this morning for a chance to see girl bands Atomic Kitten and Mis-Teeq - just two of the top pop acts who will entertain crowds at the Wyvern FM event.

Fame Academy stars David Sneddon and Sinead Quinn are some of the other big names on the bill.

Simon Monk, Wyvern FM's programme controller, said he expected 15,000 people to turn up today - 3,000 more than last year.

"Today is going to be the hottest day of the year," he said.

"It's also going to be hot because XS 2003 is on! The line-up is amazing this year.

"We thought we had a good line-up last year but we've got acts such as Mis-Teeq which is great for us, as Mis-Teeq were quoted as saying they were not going to do many shows this year."

Mr Monk said people should arrive in plenty of time as boy band Busted take to the stage at 4pm.

Busted, who had hits with What I Go To School For and Year 3000, are touring Britain and will go on to play Bristol this evening.

"All of Busted's shows are sold out so XS2003 is people's only chance to see them," said Mr Monk.

Mums and dads in the audience will be able to enjoy 80s star Limahl, formerly the front man with Kajagoogoo.

Last year, 12,000 people flocked to Worcester's New Road cricket ground to see the likes of boy band Blue and Liberty X.

The festival will be held over two days, with a Classical Picnic & Proms concert tomorrow.

The classical concert will be conducted by Jae Alexander.

Classical music lovers will be able to crack open a bottle of bubbly and picnic to the sounds of the English National Orchestra.

Sixties icon Petula Clark and soprano Sarah Ryan will also be performing.

XS2003 and Classical Picnic & Proms will both take place at Worcester's New Road cricket ground.