Do you remember when the ‘big top’ came to Ystalyfera?

Ask around the village and people still smile at the memory of the big top on Ynysydarren Playing Fields. For a few summers around the turn of the millennium, Gŵyl Ystalyfera pulled off the kind of line-ups you usually drove to the city for, then walked home from under valley stars. One night in 1999 even opened with Company of Snakes, a Whitesnake-infused supergroup, playing to a packed tent on the fields.

By 2001 the festival’s reputation had spread. That July brought a special visit from The Blockheads during their post-Dury tribute era, the band taking a victory lap through timeless grooves like Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick and Reasons To Be Cheerful. The guest list turned heads.

Comedy favourite Phil Jupitus stepped up to the mic, swapping panel-show barbs for Blockheads banter (anyone who saw his bizarre set in Pontardawe Art Centre a few years back may see him a little differently since!).

Some may remember 80s frontman The Doctor (Clive Jackson) from Doctor and the Medics also joining the blockheads on stage before the proper valley pinch-yourself moment as Skewen’s own Bonnie Tyler lent her unmistakable voice to the party. It was the kind of crossover only a small festival can conjure, where a stand-up, a rock icon and a legendary band share the same village stage for one night.

It was made all the better for the ‘rumour-mill’. The Blockheads were confirmed but we all waited for the rest.  

Those shows landed in the middle of a busy Welsh festival map, yet they felt uniquely ours. The tent glowed, the Tawe misted the air, and you could hear the last chorus roll across the houses before the applause chased it down the street. Gŵyl Ystalyfera never pretended to be a monster weekender. It was something better for a close-knit place like this, a handful of big evenings that stitched national names into local memory.

Good times. We’d love to hear your local memories