COOL AS LEICESTER

This weekly music guide is brought to you in partnership with PPL PRS Ltd. Big thanks for their ongoing support of local acts and venues.

Stay in the know and be the first in line. Every week.

Diary Dates

Soundhouse Summer Sessions – Every Saturday through the summer
The Soundhouse

The Summer Sessions are BACK. Enjoy live music outdoors on the city centre’s best outdoor stage. From 1-6pm every Saturday through the summer. Enjoy a mixed bill of local acts with some drinks in the sunshine. Free entry and all ages welcome..

All Ears Avow – Friday 15 July
The Shed

A four piece, female fronted alternative rock band from Swindon who are influenced by bands including Deftones, Arcane Roots and Incubus. Forming in early 2013, they have devised their own brand of alternative rock dipping their toes into pop punk and also heavier styles with melodic choruses and fist pumping anthems that leave crowds begging for more.

Ditz – Thursday 21 July
The Soundhouse

Brighton band Ditz build into a fuzzy overdriven noisy, oscillating distortion with a heart-pounding framework of fuzz-loaded craftsmanship.

Sunbirds – Friday 29 July
The Musician

The Beautiful South’s Dave Hemingway is back and sounding better than ever. Together with erstwhile South colleague, guitarist/songwriter Phil Barton, new discovery singer/violinist Laura Wilcockson and top UK session drummer Marc Parnell, Dave has created Sunbirds. Although born and bred in England the band’s sound predominantly features the instrumentation of traditional American roots music combined with the occasional outburst of guitar heavy melody more associated with Seattle in the late 80s / early 90s.

Handmade Festival – Saturday 6 August

Handmade Festival returns to Leicester this year, as the festival goes back to its multi-venue city centre roots with a one day line-up of exciting acts. The event returns on Saturday 6 August and will be taking over both floors of Firebug as well as Duffy’s Bar. Known for bringing the best in new music to Leicester audiences, this year’s Handmade will see performances from Crows, October Drift, Heavy Lungs and Peaness, as well as Leicester favourites including Mouth Culture, Earls and Scumbag Lion. The place to be to discover the best upcoming acts and find a new favourite.

110 Above – 11-14 August

Nestled away over near Twycross is the site of the brilliant 110 Above Festival, an event that is staking its claim as one of Leicestershire’s summer highlights and one of the festival scene’s best kept secrets. The festival in fact started as a small party around a campfire to celebrate the organiser’s birthday, and now that’s grown into a festival who this year will be hosting the likes of The Amazons, Sea Girls, Everything Everything, Palace, Hinds and more. 110 Above takes places from 11-14 August at Gopsall Farm.

The Long Road – 26-28 August

The 3rd edition of The Long Road will take place 26th – 28th August 2022 at Stanford Hall, near Lutterworth. The Long Road presents one of the UK’s largest, most authentic celebrations of country, Americana and roots music featuring four stages of live performances and a wide range of additional offerings including songwriters’ rounds, a classic American motorshow, traditional Southern-style food stalls and dedicated kids’ area.

BrewBeat – 2-4 September

Leicester city centre’s craft beer and music festival will return for its second instalment in September. After a successful first year, the 3 day event will return to Green Dragon Square from 2 – 4 September. The music line-up is still under wraps, but BrewBeat will once again be partnering with Leicester’s HQ Recordings to put together a line-up of top local talent to run throughout the weekend alongside their 100+ craft beers. AND it’s free entry all weekend.

Forgotten Futures – Saturday 3 December

It’s not all about the summer festivals as Forgotten Futures returns in December at The Y Theatre. Forgotten Futures is an all-day, multi-stage event which collects together a musically diverse programme of artists from across the UK for immersive performances in spectacular and unusual environments. Describing itself as “adventures in sound and vision”, the 2022 lineup features Alpha Male Tea Party, Bronze Age, Chief Springs and more. Tickets are on sale now for the event on Saturday 3 December.

••••

WEEKLY PLAYLIST

In this week’s playlist you can get up to speed with the acts performing across local festivals this year.

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