Bob Geldof will headline on the Friday night

Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau has managed to lure the former Boomtown Rats frontman and Live Aid organiser to headline at the three-day event in the small Gwynedd town.

Organisers of the Sesiwn Fawr - which translates as Dolgellau's Big Session - confirmed that weeks of delicate negotiations had paid off and that Sir Bob had agreed to headline on the first night.

He and his band will be joining fellow Irishmen, the Sawdoctors, at the open-air event.

Ywain Myfyr from the festival committee said he had been given a guarantee that the festival would be echoing to the song that brought Sir Bob's band chart success in the late 1970s.

Melting pot

He said: "Bob Geldof and his band play a mixture of stuff, from traditional Irish music to Boomtown Rats classics.

"His agent guaranteed that I Don't Like Mondays would be played!" he said.

He is among dozens of artists who will be turning the south Gwynedd town into a melting pot of traditional, contemporary and world music on 18-20 July.

Bob Geldof will be playing on the Friday evening.

On the Saturday, Brittany's legendary Celtic folk musician Alan Stivell will be headlining while the Sawdoctors are the main attraction on the Sunday.

Last year marked a change in the festival's history when fans had to pay to see bands for the first time.

Big names do attract a larger core audience Ywain Myfyr, Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau

The main stage was also moved from the town square to an enclosure on a piece of public land known as the Marian on the outskirts of the town.

Having been held in the heart of the town for more than 10 years, organisers said growing crowd numbers meant the festival had outgrown the small square.

A weekend ticket for this year's event will cost up to �45 and will be going on sale to the general public in a few weeks.

Core audience

Hopes were raised, and dashed, last year when it was wrongly claimed that U2's Bono would be appearing at the festival.

But Ywain Myfyr said Sesiwn Fawr organisers had nothing to do with the rumour.

He said: "That was a story started by somebody else.

"All we did was not deny it!"

He added the festival's expansion did not put extra pressure on them to attract bigger names.

"We try to get artists that are suitable for the festival.

"If we can't afford them, then we can't go after them.