Darwen Live is set to take place this weekend with Manchester music star Shaun Ryder's Black Grape topping the bill.

The free festival, which is taking place on Saturday and Sunday, was originally set to take place in May however due to restrictions it was moved to October.

The former Happy Mondays star Shaun will be headlining the main stage with his side project Black Grape on Saturday while The Hoosiers, famous for their hits Goodbye Mr A and Worried About Ray, will be headlining the festival on Sunday.

Also performing is Langho X Factor star Grace Davies, Jeremiah Ferrari as well as a several local solo artists and bands.

The event was cancelled last year because of the Covid lockdown.

Organiser Darren James said: "It's great - hopefully the weather will hold off.

"It's been 18 months in the planning as we were unable to hold the event in 2020 but we have managed to keep onto quite a lot of the acts who were supposed to perform.

"We are looking forward to it and people are excited for it to be back."

The main stage will be located in the market square while the Library Theatre, the Bank Bar and Kitchen, the Bridgewater and more bars will be joining in the festivities, hosting live music.

The event will kick off at midday on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday, however the weather forecast is not looking to dry up over the weekend, with rain showers expected all weekend.

Darwen Live first came on to the scene in 1999 and has seen some famous musicians on the main stage including the Bolton-formed punk and rock band, Buzzcocks.

It is a free-to-attend annual music festival and is organised and run by volunteers and funded by Darwen Town Council, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, and private sponsors.

There will be no paper programme this year for events and people are asked instead to visit the website www.darwen.live to see the line-up for the day.