ORGANISERS of Witney Music Festival have revealed the two headliners that will entertain crowds at this year’s event.

The festival is set to return bigger and better than ever with its main event on The Leys taking place over two days for the first time.

Headlining the Friday night is Noasis – the leading Oasis tribute act. Taking to the stage on Saturday is Liverpool-based rock band The Farm.

Chairman of the festival Eric Marshall said that excitement had been growing on social media since the announcement.

The Farm, who hit fame in 1990 with their hit 'All Together Now', helped ramp up the excitement.

Mr Marshall said: "We are so excited about them playing. Social media has been going crazy since The Farm announced on their webpage they were playing Witney.

"There is such a buzz about the Witney Music Festival now that stories about our headline act have been difficult to keep under wraps."

The main open-air event on The Leys will take place on August 17 and 18 to avoid clashing with repairs to the space planned by the town council, which owns the land.

Choosing Noasis to headline the festival's first night was a way of offering something different and highlighting the event's inclusive approach.

Mr Marshall continued: "Core to our vision for the festival is the idea of inclusiveness.

"It is with this in mind we are putting on two days of the festival on The Leys to provide more opportunities for people to engage around music.

"The Friday night will be focussed on tribute acts. Headlining will be Noasis, the number one Oasis tribute act.

"Having tribute acts involved opens up an opportunity for people who want to sing covers, even just singing to a backing track."

A wide-range of other performers - many of them from the area - will hit the stage on The Leys over the course of the weekend.

These will be revealed in due course - but spaces are still available on the main stage for any local bands who want to share a stage with The Farm.

Applications are available at witneymusicfestival.co.uk.

After clashes with the town council over last year's event, organisers have enjoyed turning over a new leaf ahead of this year's festival.

Mr Marshall continued: "We have been working closely with the town council over the staging of this year's festival and are very appreciative of the proactive support they have been giving us.

"Councillor Peter Dorward has headed a working party to specifically work with us on this years festival which has proved very useful.

"They asked us to move the festival to August so they could work on The Leys to improve the surface which we were happy to do to help them out.

"All of us in the team are so proud to be part of this fantastic festival. We get to work with some of the amazingly talented musicians this town has to offer.

"If you haven't been to our free to enter festival, this year is the time to come along, and as the Farm say, we are 'all together now'."

Earlier this year organisers announced the inclusion of a BBC Music Introducing stage on the Saturday, which will showcase the best unsigned acts in the area.

The traditional two-week festival in venues around the town will run from May 25 to June 9, which will culminate with a finale event in the town’s Corn Exchange, in Market Square.