SO if you’re looking for a peaceful, quiet, relaxing bank holiday weekend, you best jog on, pal, there’s nothing like that round here for you over the next few days.

As you can see from the gig listings on this page, so enormous they can be viewed from outer space incidentally, it’s going to be a pretty epic weekend, no matter what the weather may throw at us.

This weekend it’s the Fayre in the Square, in Hope Square, Weymouth, on Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27.

Organised by those lovely people at Weymouth Rotary, the whole sheebang raises thousands of pounds for several local good causes and they’ve got a varied line-up to delight all kinds of punters.

Saturday kicks off with the region’s leading buoy band Dorset Wrecks at the ridiculously early hour of 10.30am, with The Rock Apes, Tequila Mockingbird and Hustle also on the bill.

And Sunday is equally varied and entertaining, with the Weymouth Ukeleleans, Darron Garnett and The Leggomen on stage while Package Deal, one of Weymouth’s most popular bands from the 60s and 70s who reformed for a couple of one-off gigs and have enjoyed it so much, will be playing from 3pm. Look out for them.

Over the other side of the harbour, it’s another two-day Quayside Music Festival by the Town Bridge, with Saturday’s line-up featuring Peacock Suite, The Chase, Drive By Jammin’ and The Glass Spiders, followed by a new band called LiverpoolvRealMadridLiveFromKiev who are apparently quite popular and they’ll be on the big screen from about 7.15ish.

Sunday’s menu includes The Riffs, Freezer, The Shakespearos and The Brotherhood with a rather special performance from The Voice UK finalist Lauren Bannon from 3pm, which is quite a coup for the event. Both days start from midday, by the way.

Heading north to the swanky and salubrious suburb of Preston, recently voted the fondue party capital of the south, and it’s the return of the ever-popular Ska Festival at the Spice Ship pub.

There’s two days of ska, reggae and Mod-related music on tomorrow and Sunday, May 26 and 27 with the Lo Numbers. Hope and Glory, Offbeat Offensive and King Hammond all skankin’ on Saturday and The Mad Hatters, The Decatonics, Special Brew and Toot n’Skamen doing the moonstomp on the Sunday. There are a few tickets left at £12.50 for a day or £20 for both days, and available from the pub.

Have a safe and fun weekend out there.

Till next time…

NICK HORTON

TONIGHT (25)

Go Now: The music of the Moody

Blues (Weymouth Pavilion)

AMY: A tribute to Amy Winehouse

(Weymouth Pavilion Ocean Rooms)

Dead Man’s Clique (Finns, Weymouth)

Mad Hatters (The Nook, Weymouth)

Elijah Wolf (Gloucester, Weymouth)

Powelly, Under the Carousel (Ayya,

Weymouth)

Phil Denton (Weymouth Working Mens

Club)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds,

Weymouth)

Brass Monkeys (Wyke Regis Working

Mens Club, Weymouth)

Charlie Hodds (Park, Weymouth)

Lewis Craven Band (Royal Portland

Arms, Portland)

Electric Shakes (Ropemakers, Bridport)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Shooter (Bull’s Head, Fordington,

Dorchester)

The Silhouettes (Admiral Hardy,

Weymouth)

Sheryl Lee (RAFA Club, Weymouth)

3-6pm.

Speedway Snails (Wyke Smugglers,

Weymouth)

Johnny Mac (Star, Weymouth)

Zoe Schwarz and Rob Koral (Y&Ys,

Brewery Sq, Dorchester)

Finnian (Black Dog, Weymouth)

Martin Freed (Duke of Cornwall,

Weymouth)

Strings and Reeds (Duke of Albany,

Weymouth)

Nina Garcia (Fat Badger, Weymouth)

TOMORROW (26)

Dorset Wrecks, Dorset for Singing, Ed

Hintze, Shindig, Rock Apes, Tequila

Mockingbird, Hustle, Danny Adams,

Average Wyke Band (Fayre in the

Square, Hope Square, Weymouth) From

10.30am.

Minor Fret, Martin Freed, Emma Hardy

Band, Peacock Suit, The Chase, Drive

By Jammin’, Glass Spiders, Blazing

Strings (Quayside Music Festival, Town

Bridge, Weymouth) From midday

Big Girls Don’t Cry: Frankie Valli tribute

(Weymouth Pavilion)

Mods and Rockers Show (Weymouth

Pavilion Ocean Room)

Lo Numbers, Hope & Glory, Offbeat

Offensive, King Hammond and the

Rude Boy Mafia (Spice Ship, Weymouth)

Ska festival day one.

Seabass, Idenitikit, Tripod, Mad Hatters

(Boot, Weymouth) From 3.30pm.

Worried Men (Finns, Weymouth)

Hustle (Sailors Return, Weymouth)

Dakota (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Mojo (Gloucester, Weymouth)

The Shakespearos (Duke of Cornwall,

Weymouth)

Blue Quays (Weymouth Working Mens

Club)

Tim Andrews (Edinburgh House of

Sounds, Weymouth)

Ocean Drive (Wyke Regis Working Mens

Club, Weymouth)

Steve Nicholas (Conservative Club,

Weymouth)

Million Dollar Bash (Tom Browns,

Dorchester)

Blind Harvest (Wyke Smugglers,

Weymouth)

Darren H (Kimberlin Club, Portland)

The Remedy and friends (Stone Pier

Café, Weymouth) From 3pm.

Danny Sumbler (Revolution, Weymouth)

The Crack (Black Dog, Weymouth)

The Curst Sons (Ropemakers, Bridport)

Sheryl Lee (Duke of Albany, Weymouth)

Frank E Finn (Bridge Inn, Weymouth)

Hamish Jeffcott (Ayya, Weymouth)

SUNDAY (27)

On Reflections, Weymouth Ukeleleans,

WoW, Total Madness, Darron Garnett,

Package Deal, Leggomen, The

Silhouettes (Fayre in the Square, Hope

Square, Weymouth) From 10.30am.

DuKane, Powelly, Milk and Two, Lauren

Bannon, The Riffs, Vanity Box, Freezer,

The Shakespearos, The Brotherhood

(Quayside Music Festival, Town Bridge,

Weymouth) From midday

Message in a Bottle: Police tribute

(Weymouth Pavilion)

Mad Hatters, Decatonics, Special Brew,

Toot n’Skamen (Spice Ship, Weymouth)

Ska festival day two.

Milk & Two, Du Kane, Mark Davis,

Southern Sinners (Boot, Weymouth)

From 3.30pm.

Leggomen, The Chase, Under the

Carousel (Lazy Lizard, Weymouth)

Tripod (Finns, Weymouth)

Replay (Wyke Smugglers, Weymouth)

Alexander Soul Man (Gloucester,

Weymouth)

Tim Andrews (Edinburgh House of

Sounds, Weymouth) 3.30pm, followed

by… Darren H (Edinburgh House of

Sounds, Weymouth)

Mark Davis (King’s Arms, Weymouth)

6pm.

Pete Burns (Royal Portland Arms,

Portland)

Tequila Mockingbird (Bull’s Head,

Fordington, Dorchester) 4pm, followed by

Tequila Mockingbird (Market House,

Weymouth) From 7pm

Sheryl Lee (RAFA Club, Weymouth)

3-6pm.

Ricky Solo (Sailor’s Return, Weymouth)

From 3pm.

The Dickie Borthwick Revival (Star,

Weymouth)

Freezer (King’s Arms, Portesham)

Zoe Schwarz and Rob Koral

(Greyhound, Corfe Castle) 2.30-5pm.

Johnny Mac (Black Dog, Weymouth)

4-7pm.

Elfentale (Ropemakers, Bridport) 4pm.

Farrago (Duke of Cornwall, Weymouth)

3pm

Aaron and Karina (Duke of Cornwall,

Weymouth) 7pm.

Hustle (Nook, Weymouth) 10pm

Scots Dan’s Open Mic (Duke of Albany,

Weymouth) 6pm.

MONDAY (28)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds,

Weymouth) from 4pm.

Acoustic session (Belvedere, Weymouth)

Big Al Whittle (Duke of Albany,

Weymouth) 6pm.

TUESDAY (29)

Danny Adams (Boot, Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds,

Weymouth)

WEDNESDAY (30)

Wessex Folk Night (Sailors Return,

Weymouth) Acoustic folk, here every

Wednesday.

Open Mic Night (Royal Exchange,

Portland)

Open Mic Night (Rock, Weymouth)

THURSDAY (31)

Roger’s Singalong (Gloucester,

Weymouth)

Ricky Solo (Edinburgh House of Sounds,

Weymouth)

Julie Lewis Jazz Jam (Park, Weymouth)

Traditional Tune Session (Cove House

Inn, ChiswelI, Portland)

Ukulele Sessions (Sailors Return, St

Nicholas St, Weymouth) Strum on down

from 8pm.

Open Mic Night (Tom Brown’s,

Dorchester)

FRIDAY (1)

Hot Bacon, Tripod, C Sharp Blues

Band, Chloe, Tom and Jack on the Box

(Spenstock, Weymouth Pavilion)

Bring me The Pistols (Royal Portland

Arms, Portland)

Glass Spiders (Park, Weymouth)

The Katz (Punchbowl, Portland)

Billy Solo (Wellington, Weymouth)

Peacock Suit (Golden Lion, Weymouth)

Dave Griff’ s Open Mic (Gloucester,

Weymouth)