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Diary Dates
Will Young – Sunday 15 September
The Y Theatre
Will Young returns with forthcoming, ninth studio album, “Light It Up”, due for release on this month. To celebrate the new album, Will is embarking on his most intimate tour yet – taking shape as an up close and personal evening of acoustic performances, stories and conversation.
Brave Rival – Thursday 19 September
The Musician
Brave Rival are the South East’s rip-roaring rock and blues machine. Drawing influence from the likes of John Mayer, Aretha Franklin, Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and Tedeschi Trucks, Brave Rival offer a style and sound that you’ve always known, and yet never heard before.
Lauren Hibberd – Friday 20 September
The Soundhouse
Indie-rock singer raised on the Isle Of Wight. “If you like Jamie T and The Big Moon, I suspect this will be up your street. She’s fab” – Clara Amfo, BBC Radio 1
The Luke Combs Experience – Saturday 21 September
O2 Academy Leicester
The Luke Combs Experience brings you everything to get you foot stomping, fist pumping to all of this country superstars hits. If you love everything Luke Combs then come join us for a night you will never forget. With songs like ‘The Kind of Love We Make’, ‘Beer Never Broke My Heart’ to ‘Beautiful Crazy’ and ‘Growin’ Up and Gettin’ Old’, we will have something for y’all to enjoy.
Astrid Williamson – Tuesday 24 September
The Musician
Astrid Williamson was the frontperson for Scottish trio, Goya Dress, in the mid-’90s. After the dissolution of the band in late 1996, Williamson opted to go solo under the alias of her first name. Though a classically trained pianist and confessional-style singer/songwriter with a uniquely haunting and beautiful voice, Astrid’s numerous comparisons to Tori Amos were lazy. Distinctive in her own right, Astrid’s songwriting was more down-to-earth, subtle, and intricate than that of her redheaded peer; Kristin Hersch and Polly Harvey are better touchstones, but even those positive comparisons do little to bottle her artistry.
Weller v The Who – Saturday 5 October
The Donkey
Join Heavy Sol, a 5 piece live band from Leicester, as they cover top tunes from the Modfather Paul Weller and The Who. Which act gets your vote?
••••
INTERVIEW: Dark Bloom release new single and plan upcoming Duffy’s gig
Leicester’s Dark Bloom are expanding on the triumph of their recent explosive singles, Grace (featured twice on BBC Radio One’s Introducing Rock with Alyx Holcombe) and In The Haze (premiered on BBC East Midlands), by mesmerising listeners once again with the launch of their colossal new single Blur, which was released on 5 September 2024. They’ll be back gigging in Leicester again at Duffy’s Bar on Saturday 14 September. We caught up with them to find out more.
How would you describe Dark Bloom for anyone who isn’t familiar with your music?
Do you like songs with big guitar riffs?
Do you like songs with huge choruses about heartbreak yet also the bane and the pleasure of social media?
Do you like songs that are inspired by Come Dine with Me and feature a slide whistle?
If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions then Dark Bloom are for you!
We do our very best to put all our (and hopefully your) favourite things about music into several neatly packaged three-and-a-half minute long tracks.
Which 3 bands would be listed in your for fans of?
You Me At Six
Bring Me The Horizon
Don Broco
What has been your highlight of being in Dark Bloom so far?
Whilst we’re still fairly new as a band, we’ve had some brilliant times! We’ve been played on BBC Radio One this year and Dean Jackson had us on for an interview on his BBC Introducing Show in January, both of which were truly ‘pinch me’ moments for us.
When the three of us started our journey with Dark Bloom we all agreed that we would make the most of the time we had together; I think that is the highlight of being in Dark Bloom for me. The fact that we’re cherishing the opportunity to make music together, perform together, and do what we love together will always be the biggest highlight for me.
What is your dream support act slot?
We’re really big fans of acts such as Enter Shikari, Holding Absence and Sleep Token so I think supporting any of these three would be absolutely unreal; I would simply pass away at the mention of such an opportunity!
What’s your favourite thing about the Leicester music scene?
The Leicester music scene is so diverse and so exciting! From artists such as Mahalia and Hard Life to Mouth Culture and Durendal, it is an honour to come from a place where there is such a passion and a talent for music.
Without being too cliché, I think my favourite thing about the Leicester music scene is the people we’ve met here. We have met so many lovely people in Leicester and some of whom we now have the pleasure of now calling some of them our dearest friends. Whilst there are too many to name, we would like to quickly name drop Jonny, Tom, and Sam, Harry, and Joe from switchdown (who are currently making new music!) as some of those that have truly made performing and sharing music so special to us. Without the Leicester music scene, we would have never been able to meet these people or do what we love.
What is your favourite local venue?
It’s so hard to choose just one! We have so many wonderful memories from the venues in Leicester like playing at The Shed for the first time when we were about 15 to performing at the last ever show at The Cookie (now The Big Difference).
I think our favourite local venue has to be Firebug though as it has always been our home for meeting up, going out, and seeing our favourite bands. We’re also super excited to be back at Duffy’s Bar and it’s so fantastic that Leicester has so many great local venues to choose from!
What are Dark Bloom’s plans over the next 12 months?
Well we’re starting by debuting our latest single , Blur, at our upcoming show at Duffy’s Bar in Leicester with Reckoner and Starved, which is on this coming Saturday (14th September). Reckoner are also from Leicester so it’ll be amazing to see them perform their latest EP ‘I Am What You Will Become.’
We’re currently in discussions with a few promoters to set up some additional shows before the end of the year, which we can’t wait to share with you once they’re confirmed!
As a very first reveal (specially for Cool As Leicester of course!) we are also in the process of preparing everything for the release of our debut EP! We can’t give anything further away at this stage but the wait won’t be too long we promise! The months after that are all to play for!
Where can people listen to your stuff and keep up to date with what you’re doing?
You can listen to our songs on all available streaming services and our music video for ‘In The Haze’ is available on YouTube! If you’d like to check us out further and/or keep up with what we’ve got planned, we’re on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok via @DarkBloomUK. For a link to everything all in one place, have a look at: https://linktr.ee/DarkBloomUK. Give us a follow and a message – we’d love to hear from you!
Thanks again to Gabby and Cool As Leicester for having us! We get all our best foodie recommendations and Leicester events from Cool As Leicester so it’s such a privilege to be featured! 🙂
Playlist
Take a listen to our latest weekly playlist and discover some of the acts you can see live in Leicester over the coming weeks.
