Last updated at 19:55, Thursday, 26 July 2012

There were four seasons in a weekend at Cockermouth Rock Festival – but there was no way the event was going down without a fight.

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After an almost glorious Friday and Saturday, horrendous weather on Sunday saw the main stage closed and headliners transferred to the bar area.

The session stage was closed earlier than anticipated and tents were ripped from awnings and scattered across the campsites.

Gusts of up to 35 miles an hour rampaged across Wellington Farm, Cockermouth, but hardy festival-goers and organisers weren’t going to let a bit of wind stop the show.

Rock choir Committed 2 Rock opened Sunday and belted out Queen’s The Show Must Go On – a fitting sentiment for that day.

The 96-strong group were supposed to be on the main stage, but crammed into the bar tent to perform.

The crew worked hard all day to fix the main tent in time for headliners Buzzcocks, but by early evening the decision was made to shift everything into the bar and strip the main stage of equipment.

The move to the bar proved a success as it was filled to capacity.

With eight stages and hundreds of bands, there was something for everyone.

After the success of last year’s Green Area, organisers expanded it to include more and transformed the session tent into a stage.

Now in its eighth year, the festival has matured in terms of its layout and offerings – which included a vintage market – but keeps a grass roots feel and offers local bands the opportunity to play a major event.

Local groovesters Delivo opened the festival on Friday and were one of several local popular acts, including Awol, the Solway Delta Blues Band, As Long As We Live, wrinkly rockers Five and Dangerous and Colt 45.

Crooked Dice opened the main stage on Saturday, but the biggest local band of the event had to be local covers group Collision, who appeared before Zane Lowe on Saturday to the biggest crowd of the day at that point.

They had a guest appearance on drums by Clint Stamper, festival chairman and ex-drummer of the now-defunct Naturalz.

One of the festival’s hidden gems was the Gav McKew stage – named after the local musician – where Cockermouth band Codex performed.

The four-piece, aged between 15 and 17, played covers and attracted a sizeable crowd.

Performance of the festival goes to DJ Zane Lowe, who got the party going on Saturday with a blistering set.

l Photos and video highlights at www.timesandstar.co.uk

First published at 19:25, Thursday, 26 July 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk