Cannock Chase's Forest Live hailed as 'fantastic' as work already starts on next year's event

More than 15,000 people descended on Cannock Chase this past weekend for three sold out gigs from big-name acts.

Indie rockers Elbow performed on Friday followed by eighties pop star Rick Astley on Saturday and soul icon Sir Tom Jones on Sunday.

Rob Lamb, the events manager for the Forestry Commission which organises the event, said: "It was a fantastic weekend, we had more than 15,000 people over the whole weekend come to the site to watch three fantastic performances.

"The weather was great and so were the three quality performances, rounded off by Sir Tom on Sunday night.

"The gigs are great for the Forestry Commission and help support the local economy.

"It all went very smooth, it was a very good weekend."

Despite Forest Live's 2017 instalment only finishing two days ago, work is already underway to make next year's gigs even better.

Mr Lamb confirmed no bands have been booked as of yet but the commission would be looking at 'minor tweaks' to improve next year's event.

He said: "It has been an interesting year for me as as well as Forest Live I also look after the gigs up in Nottingham and Cheshire. But this past weekend was one of the best I have been involved in.

"We start working on next year's immediately. It is a full time job and a lot of work goes into it.

"We have not booked any bands yet but we are working on it as well as working on any feedback we get from people who attended this year's event.

"There will not be anything major to change for next year because this year has gone so well but we are always looking to improve.

"I cannot really think of anything to change because of how well this year went but I am sure we will make some minor tweaks. People probably will not notice but it will be things we want to change to improve how the event runs."

The popularity of Forest Live has grown each year ever since UB40 and Embrace christened the event back in 2006.

Since then the likes of Paul Weller, Robert Plant, Simply Red, Keane, Jessie J, Blondie and Paloma Faith have all performed on the Chase.

Last year James Bay, Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott and Leeds rockers Kaiser Chiefs all performed to sell-out crowds.