COOL AS LEICESTER

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Diary Dates

William The Conqueror – Monday 13 June
The Big Difference

Indie rock trio William The Conqueror might well have dropped one of 2021’s sleeper hits. It’s a record of cuts and bruises, wrapped within bittersweet leftfield rock n roll tunes. The band is fronted by Ruarri Joseph, a wry, patient storyteller, who has managed enough living to portray a world-weary wisdom in his words, but balances it all with enough optimism to suggest he hasn’t quite lived. ‘Maverick Thinker’ is a record of short, sharp shots to the arm. Fuzzy college rock with chops, one foot lingering menacingly over the distortion pedal.  Praised for their grit and authenticity by The Guardian and NPR’s Ann Powers, their live performances have drawn wildly enthusiastic comparisons to Kings of Leon, Nirvana, Buffalo Tom and The Marshall Tucker Band.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters – Tuesday 14 June
De Montfort Hall

Elvis Costello tours in support of the new album ‘The Boy Named If’.

Missing Andy – Saturday 18 June
The Shed

Missing Andy are a British mod influenced band based in Essex. The group comprises Alex Greaves, Jonathan Sharpe, Rob Jones, Steve Greenwood and Elliot Richardson.

The Meffs – Saturday 18 June
Duffy’s

The Meffs are a noisy, punk rock duo from Essex. “Glorious punk in the great tradition of British political/punk acts. If there was ever a time when society needed the kids to make some noise, it is now”.

Fightmilk – Tuesday 21 June
Firebug

Fightmilk return to Leicester after what feels like a million years to kick off their summer tour! They’ll be taking over The Firebug for an extra-special gig with queer emo five-piece Slash Fiction. Fightmilk’s 2021 album Contender received critical acclaim from Kerrang, Noizze and Louder Than War. Blending acerbic lyrics and riffs galore their songs are chock full of high energy heartbreak power pop. They’ve shared the stage with Johnny Foreigner, Mclusky, Art Brut & can’t wait to be back at The Firebug.

Making its highly anticipated return with its first full-capacity festival in three years, Download Festival 2022 is the big reunion of the UK rock community and will take place on 10 – 12 June 2022 at the spiritual home of rock in Donington Park, Leicestershire.

As always, the line up consists of some of the biggest names in rock. This year’s monumental lineup includes KISS, Iron Maiden and Biffy Clyro, alongside Skindred, Korn, YONAKA, Deftones, A Day To Remember, Will Haven, Steel Panther, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Kid Brunswick, Bimini, Wargasm, Dana Dentata, Funeral For A Friend and many more.

Donington Park will welcome over 100 huge acts for the first major festival of 2022, and Download Festival could not be more ready to reunite with its incredible community for the first time since 2019.

Iron Maiden, hailed as one of the greatest live acts of all time, will return to Donington to headline the festival on Saturday night, in what will be one of only two UK festival shows in 2022, while the legendary KISS will storm the stage on Friday night to perform their only UK show of the summer. After their fantastic headline set in 2017, Scottish rock titans Biffy Clyro will also be making their highly anticipated return to headline the festival on Sunday night, showing off tracks from ‘A Celebration of Ending’, which topped the UK charts in 2020, and their most recent studio album, the critically acclaimed ‘The Myth of Happily Ever After’.

Joining the likes of The Pretty Reckless, Ayron Jones, Lacuna Coil, Loathe, Malevolence, Normandie, Static Dress and more, Download live favourites Skindred will be back to tear things up after an epic performance at the Download Pilot in 2021, having been described by many as their highlight of the entire weekend. The Welsh reggae metal band will be bringing back their iconic ‘Newport Helicopter’ and are guaranteed to have the crowd going wild once more.

Skindred frontman Benji Webbe says: “Playing the Download pilot after being locked down for a year and a half was an amazing experience so being invited back to our favourite festival and spiritual home to play alongside the likes of KISS and Maiden is a dream come true. Plus we have some amazing rockin’ new tunes which we cannot wait for you all to hear.”

Brighton rock band YONAKA also made a splash at last year’s Download Pilot, and that was just the beginning, as they’ll be causing chaos once again this year. Frontwoman Theresa Jarvis says, “Aghhhh Download! Some of us have been going since we were 14 so it’s an absolute pleasure to be performing there again. The energy is always amazing and such an exciting lineup of music.”

Drag sensation Bimini rose to fame on Ru Paul’s Drag Race and released their punk non-binary anthem God Save This Queen last year. That was only the first step on their musical journey, because Bimini will be gracing the crowds of Download with their presence in 2022 for the very first time.

Also added to the bill are Canadian rap-rock-horrorcore artist Dana Dentata, self-described grunge lord Kid Brunswick, industrial rock band SKYND, Oregon stoner rock band Red Fang, legendary Californian noise metallers Will Haven, Swedish melodic death metal band Orbit Culture, Australian five-piece Banks Arcade, Colorado retro revisionists The Velveteers, UK heavy music newcomers Heriot, LA rockers Dirty Honey and Scottish swashbucklers Alestorm.

With multiple stages, fun fair, party zones, great food options and so much more, this is the major UK festival that is on your doorstep.

Day tickets, weekend tickets and VIP options are on sale now from downloadfestival.co.uk.

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WEEKLY PLAYLIST

In this week’s playlist you can listen to some of the best acts you can catch live in Leicester over the coming weeks.

Have a listen and get in touch to tell us which tracks you’re loving.