A host of students from the University of Gloucestershire are to perform at the 2018 Wychwood Festival.

The three-day music festival, which runs from 1st-3rd June, has earned the reputation for being one of the best annual music festivals held in Gloucestershire. The 2018 line-up looks particularly strong with bands such as Feeder and Shed Seven headlining the weekend main stage.

The beauty of the Wychwood Festival is the opportunities offered to lesser-known musicians who perform on the outer stages. Several students from the University of Gloucestershire have been booked to perform at the 2018 festival, including Indigo Haze who will be returning for a second year.

The four-piece band are based in Cheltenham and will be playing tracks they’ve written themselves. The indie quartet say the opportunity to perform at a prestigious festival like Wychwood is great for their profile. “We played Wychwood last year and absolutely loved it, so we’re really looking forward to playing there again this year,” said band member Tom Bentley. “We have a couple of new tracks to play so we’re really excited to show people what we’ve been working on. Any time you get an opportunity to play in front of a big crowd is really exciting. We’ve been hard at work preparing for Wychwood 2018, we can’t wait to get on stage and perform, it’s what we love best,” added Tom.

Another student from the university who is looking forward to playing at the festival is Ryan Nicklin, who is studying for a degree in popular music. “I’m very much looking forward to getting on stage at the Wychwood Festival,” said Ryan. “Being my first festival performance, it’s a great opportunity for me to get myself noticed. The atmosphere will be completely different from what I’m used to, it’s something to embrace. I would love to be an artist in my own right and be releasing my own songs and make a career from that. This performance will be great for my development, I’m really excited to get on stage,” added Ryan.

Andrew Lansley, Senior Lecturer in Music & Audio at the University of Gloucestershire, says the opportunity to perform a such as prestigious music festival is extremely beneficial to his students. He said: “We have worked with Wychwood Festival for almost a decade now and it is amazing to be able to offer our students the opportunity to perform for their audience. We program and operate the Wychwood FM acoustic stage and our students appear on the Big Top and main stages too, which of course is a fantastic experience for them.

“I always tell students to try and relax and enjoy their performances. It can be a bit daunting getting up on a stage when you first start out, but so many of our students are so active within the local and regional music scenes that it’s second nature already for a lot of them.”

The Wychwood Festival is held at Cheltenham Racecourse. As well as offering visitors the chance to see live music there’s also a host of dance and art workshops, a circus school, plus a programme of talks and comedy for all the family to enjoy.