BANDS rocked the harbourside as music lovers soaked up the sun in Weymouth.

Musicians hit an open-air stage outside the Rendezvous for the Bank Holiday festival yesterday and today.

The free event featured nearly 30 new acts and the ‘cream of the crop of local bands’ on the quayside near the Town Bridge.

The Rendezvous nightclub organised the event after this year’s Weymouth Sea Festival faltered.

Keith Treggiden, who is general manager at the Rendezvous, joined forces with Danny Adams, from Danny Adams Production Ltd, to stage the extravaganza.

Young, up and coming bands and acts played yesterday, while elite acts from Weymouth’s music scene performed today.

Families, drinkers and music lovers enjoyed the sounds as the non-stop musical marathon was held from noon to 9pm each day.

The Weymouth Sea Festival was cancelled because of a lack of support from enough sponsors this year and the loss of a French market but it will go ahead next May as normal.

It usually includes a Trawler Race as well as stalls, demonstrations and music on the harbourside.

Rendezvous is the main sponsor of the Sea Festival and decided to stage the concert this year to keep the musical element of the Bank Holiday celebrations alive.

Music lovers have packed the harbourside over recent years for the bands on the second Bank Holiday of May.

But they also poured into the Lazy Lizard, on the Esplanade, for a Trawler Trashed music festival with a multitude of bands yesterday afternoon and last night.