Live Review: FOCUS Wales International Showcase Festival 2026 (Part 1)
Let's start as any good story should, at the very beginning. There's this big old chemical reaction happening in this vast realm of nothingness and then this big explosion happens -sound about right yeah? It creates the building blocks for life to eventually thrive on this planet, Humans come into being - evolving from Apes - and create a system where they can enslave others and hoard as much wealth as possible. To keep it in their grubby little mits, they divide us by making us fight each other, because we look a little bit different in some parts of the world. They cackle mercifully as they trick us time and time again and wipe their arse with another $100 bill, whilst you are barely able to afford a bar of chocolate. The greatest story ever told.
But let's not get too depressed. We're here, we're alive and time is much shorter than it should be, so lets try and live a little huh? At least that's what I'm telling my internal organs after another fine weekend in Wrexham.
Yes, we got there eventually; the actual reason you're here. For those of you out of the loop, Wrexham's FOCUS Wales has steadily built itself into one of the finest showcase festivals the UK has to offer since its 2010 inception. For three days in early May, artists from all over the world descend on the city centre for music, film, panels, networking and maybe a little partying too. Headliners for 2026 included Fat Dog, Idlewild, Shame, Deerhoof, Gwenno and Moonchild Sanelly, but often the festivals real stars are found lower in the bill. We spent the festival roaming round from venue to venue and here are some of our highlights of what we discovered.
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There's only one place to start.
This will be no surprise here to regular readers of NNWNF but we get to not one, not two..but THREE Two-Man Giant Squid shows here in Wrexham. The New York outfit's first show is late in The Rockin' Chair on Thursday and it's a great start, but you can feel the nerves emanating from the stage slightly. Nevertheless, they go down well with spontaneous pockets of dancing from an appreciative audience up for a good time. I contemplate the irony of current single '3 Hits' being sang on a stage that Wheatus have played many times before - if you know, you know.
The second show is at the conference room in the Wynnstay Hotel and this feels like a big moment for the band. Full disclosure here, I fully intended to miss this show and have a good old singalong at Idlewild, but sometimes you've just got to go with the flow bro'; especially when you're a little pissed and need access to a semi-decent toilet. Ten minutes before they start and as they're doing their line check, it feels like Two-Man Giant Squid may have got a little unlucky with the clash; you can count the number of people in the room who aren't in the band on two hands. Yet, to completely misquote that Kevin Costner film about dead Baseball players - If you book them, they will come - and as we're onto complete and utter banger 'Don't Go To Snareworld' early in the set, the room is practically bursting full. The smiles are beaming from band and crowd alike. They play an older track 'The Opposite' and one guy yelps and gets funny looks from those around him. I'll give you three guesses..
By the time, the third show arrives on Saturday, in the smaller of the two rooms in Ty Pawb, I'm back to people watching and it's clear the band have won many new fans. I see lots of other artists on the bill in the audience nodding their heads with approval and the room in general feels like it's fully onboard the TMGS train. They close the set with 'I Was a DJ in 2015' and the place goes off. You smashed it in guys - BOSSSSSH.
Sweden's Sylvie's Head sound like they could have been formed in a Salford MDMA lab in 1991 rather than 2026 Gothenburg. The band are barely out of school, but have a swagger and stage presence that defies their youthful appearance. I speak to them several times throughout the weekend - including before their sweaty set at The Parish - and they seem genuinely thrilled to be roaming round the streets of Wrexham going from gig to gig.
SYLVIE'S HEAD (Photo by Adam Houghton)
Another band with scant regard for fitting into neatly packaged boxes are Canadian's Boutique Feelings. A tip from several people during the weekend, I finally get to see them play on Saturday night at The Rockin' Chair. They're a slick proposition live, flitting between alt Hip Hop, Jazz and indie rock with relative ease. They know how to build and work a crowd and they bring those watching to their knees several times, before leaving almost as quickly as they arrived. Boutique Feelings are a consummate live act and Wrexham agrees wholeheartedly.
French lads Servo have crossed the channel to showcase their brooding post-punk and Rouen your lives. They have this sombre and earnest style that sometimes explodes into life before you've had time to catch your breath; a packed room in Ty Pawb knows they are witnessing a talented and tight knit unit here and they go down a treat. I met them in The Parish on Friday night and drunkenly serenaded them with a football chant of their name. I'm not sure what I was thinking and for that I'm truly sorry.
A welcome change of pace arrives with Frejya Elsy who is a one woman, classically trained Trip Hop band. Layering samples through her keyboard, whilst singing and playing complex pieces; it's quite mesmerising stuff. Unfortunately her set starts late due to some technical issues, which perhaps hampers her ability to keep the room full. My tendency to people watch creeps in and those stay are treated to a magical half an hour from an incredibly talented artist.
Join us next time for part 2 of NNWNF's jaunt around Wrexham, where you'll find out why familiarity will never breed contempt and that FOCUS Wales continues to redefine the blueprint for music showcase festivals year on year.
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