The organisers try hard – using wide sponsorship – to keep festival entry fees to a minimum.

But anyone on a tight budget can visit the fringe, where it costs nothing to attend, due to sponsorship of venues.

The fringe spans the festival, but spikes over June 13 and 14.

Showcase, in which aspiring musicians compete in a Battle of the Bands for £200 of studio time, has its final at the Corn Exchange on Friday, June 13, from 7pm.

Steve Roux and the Brass Knuckle Blues Band are in the Cellar Bar at the Bear Hotel at 9pm that evening and, just down the road at the Lamb Inn, Swindon-based The Shudders give their all, while Flash Harry are at the Southgate.

On Saturday, June 14, the Philip Clouts Quartet perform jazz at Pizza Express from 7.30pm, while folk-rock singer Antonio Lulic is in the Cellar Bar at the Bear Hotel at 9pm.

The fringe gets under way on June 6 with the Roving Crows in the Cellar Bar, while The Barflys are at the British Lion on Sunday lunchtime and Mrs Barbara Nice, alias actress Janice Connolly, offers a friendly chat over tea and cakes in the Bear Hotel ballroom at 4pm that day.

The final fringe event is at the Hare and Hounds on June 22, at 1pm, when acoustic guitarist Brooks Williams entertains.