Ludlow Festival ends with a bang

Monday 12th July 2010, 12:42PM BST.

About 3,000 people turned out in force for the finale concert and fireworks of Ludlow Festival.

The concert was a complete sell-out at Ludlow Castle last night.

Queues to get in ahead of the show snaked back through the town’s market square and along King Street.

Eagles tribute band Desperado took to the stage shortly before 8pm as the last few concert goers were making their way in.

They warmed up the crowd with favourites including Take it Easy and Peaceful Easy Feeling in a set of just over an hour, finishing with Hotel California.

Killer Queen were on shortly after 9.30pm and got the crowd up on their feet and dancing from the start of the set.

They rocked the castle with opener One Vision before launching into familiar numbers like It’s a Kind of Magic, Another One Bites The Dust and Radio Ga Ga and played Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions as an encore for the ecstatic crowd.

The firework display was a fitting end to an energetic and entertaining evening.

On Saturday night more than 200 people turned out at Ludlow Assembly Rooms for a performance by south London comedian Arthur Smith, famous for his appearances on BBC Radio 4.

Mr Smith, also well known for his appearances on the BBC’s Grumpy Old Men, entertained the audience with discussions over social networking sites, mobile phones and reading select lines and past experiences from his book.

The comedian took the opportunity to mock residents over Ludlow’s nightlife and narrow streets and told of the not-so-warm welcomes he had received when performing in other areas of the country.

Audience members also got to play a role in the show, with Mr Smith reading out offerings from the crowd as to why they were grumpy and what made Ludlow famous.