Rising stars of the music world will be joining heavyweight acts such as Fatboy Slim and Grace Jones for Common People.

Held on the Common, more than 35,000 people will head to the city centre park to see unknown acts from the south coast rub shoulders with chart toppers.

Organised by the team behind Bestival and Camp Bestival, and headed by DJ Rob Da Bank, the event is expected to bring in millions of pounds to the city.

Revellers from across the south coast will be heading through the gates when they open at 10.30am tomorrow and Sunday morning.

Yesterday the last few touches were being made to the three stages ahead of this weekend’s event.

Daily Echo:

Rob spoke about how much Common People means to him.

He said: “It’s amazing to be here on site for the build, seeing Southampton Common being transformed into a festival site. It’s very flat and compact compared to what we’re used to.

“It’s very exciting for me, my favourite bit is to be here watching it all come together.

We’ve been working constantly on this since we dreamed it up. It may only be a two-day festival but it’s important to us that this works. The south coast needs more live music.”

It is the first time the city has seen a music festival of this size since the Power in the Park concert.

During the 1990s and the early 21st century tens of thousands of people flocked to see artists such as Ocean Colour Scene, Boyzone and Rachel Stevens.

Last year the Let’s Rock festival saw pop stars from the 1980s grace the stage but this is the first time since Power in the Park that a two-day festival has been held.

As well as youngsters looking forward to cutting edge names like George the Poet on Saturday and the Southampton-based Band of Skulls on Sunday, families can look forward to a day of entertainment.

Other acts include hip hop pioneers De La Soul and dance maverick DJ Yoda on Saturday.

Chart sensation Clean Bandit who had several hits last year including Rather Be will be on stage on Sunday along with British electronic trio Years and Years.

Also known as Norman Cook, Fatboy Slim’s number-one selling album “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby” in the 1990’s spawned several hit singles.

He will be headlining tonight.

Sunday headliners Grace Jones was initially a model before moving into music in the mid-1970s.

She reached stardom in the 1980s with albums Slave to the Rhythm and Island Life, and appeared in movies Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Straight to Hell.

Her legacy is as strong as ever with her new wave sound inspiring the likes of Massive Attack, Hot Chip, and LCD Soundsystem.

Warsash-born Rob, who will be there with his three children, added: “It’s my youngest son’s birthday today.

It’s going to be really poignant that we’re going to be having a party and my son’s birthday.”

He’s going to be five, and we’re all looking forward to both his birthday and being here.”