A spectacular summer weekend of music is in store for fans of today's pop and classic swing.

Boy band McFly and West End hit The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas are coming to the 18,000-capacity Sussex County Cricket Ground in July.

It will be the second year the stadium in Eaton Road, Hove, has hosted a large-scale event, after Elton John wowed the crowds with his performance last year.

Ian Waring, the commercial manager at Sussex County Cricket Club, said the shape of the cricket ground and the fact it is surrounded by flats produced excellent sound quality and atmosphere for that gig.

He said: "It held the sound fantastically well last year. It is almost like an indoor arena without a roof."

Cricket club chiefs believe the ground can become a valuable resource for the city by staging concerts.

Mr Waring said: "It helps us financially, and we feel we have a role in the community here, which is why we have the facility to have concerts and we are able to put on other things than cricket."

This year's double-header weekend is taking place on Saturday July 28 and Sunday, July 29.

Tickets are going on sale at 9am on Saturday(May 26) with organisers are expecting a sell-out crowd for both shows.

McFly - who have had seven UK number one hits - brought Brighton's Churchill Square shopping centre to a standstill when they signed CDs at HMV this month.

Mr Waring said: "We have been in discussions with numerous artists. McFly have a very good record of selling a lot of tickets.

"They came to the Brighton Dome and it sold out within 20 minutes."

While the band's legion of fans may have been disappointed in the past, 18,000 will be able to to book a place for the Hove gig.

Allyson Turner, whose family of five pitched a tent to queue for the band's HMV appearance in Brighton, said: "Their fanbase is still growing.

"The concert is good news, as it gives more of us a chance to see them."

The Sunday concert is a chance for lovers of music from another age to enjoy the classic songs of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

The production includes numbers like Mack The Knife, I've Got You Under My Skin, New York New York and Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.

Mr Waring said: "It is a fantastic show.

"It is to my knowledge the first time it has been done in a concert-style arena like this."

Southern FM will have presenters and their Road Runners team there over the weekend.

During last year's Elton John concert, 500 gallons of Pimms were consumed, 4,000 punnets of strawberries eaten and more than 1,000 buckets of ice used. It took six days to prepare for the show.

Stage crew had to lay nine kilometres of cable, put up 100 tonnes of steel, and generate 40,000 watts of electricity to power 100 moving lights.

Both events this year will take place in the afternoon, with doors opening for McFly at 3pm and for the Rat Pack Live show at 3.45pm.

No bookings can be made at the ground. All tickets must be booked through Ticketmaster, by phone or by visiting www.ticketmaster.co.uk For McFly tickets, priced between £20 and £25, call 0870 060 2310. For Rat Pack Live tickets, priced £30 and £22, call 0870 060 1731. There are also hospitality packages available for the Rat Pack gig by calling 01273 827108. Lines open at 9am on Saturday May 26.