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Diary Dates”.
The K’s – Thursday 5 December
O2 Academy Leicester
A four piece, fuzz-pop band from Newton-Le-Willows. It’s clear The K’s are going to keep growing, a cult sensation ready to blossom in the mainstream. Their irresistible, irrefutable spirit, is welcoming to anyone who wants to escape into a better, more hopeful world.
Sam Ryder – Saturday 7 December
O2 Academy Leicester
As the world was being put in to lockdown in March 2020 – Sam uploaded the first of his now infamous covers. They quickly caught the attention of some famous fans (think Justin Bieber, Sia, Alicia Keys and Elton John) – with compilations of his videos appearing on The Ellen Show, BBC’s Newsbeat and more. As the videos kept coming, so did the fans.
Fast forward 7 months and Sam rounded-off his incredible year with TikTok crowning his account as the most popular UK artist account of 2020 – beating the likes of Dua Lipa, Lewis Capaldi and Liam Payne.
His popularity and talent was soon rewarded as Sam was given the opportunity to represent the UK at Eurovision in 2022. His song Space Man finished in second place, which was the best result the UK had achieved for over 20 years.
Uncle Frank – Saturday 14 December
The International
Multi-instrumentalists Frank Benbini (one third of Fun Lovin’ Criminals) and Naim Cortazzi from Leicester are the founding members of Uncle Frank. ‘Oh my, this is the blues as originally intended, James Brown and all the funkery that goes with that. Add in a dose of electro pulsation and you have something that sits easily in the here and now but also pulls from the glorious past’.
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NEWS: BEANS ON TOAST BRINGS THE WILD GOOD CHASE TOUR TO LEICESTER
Since 2005, Beans on Toast has written simple songs about complicated subjects. Tackling the big issues of the day but doing so with his feet firmly on the ground, he’s become a people’s champ of the modern folk scene and amassed a huge back catalogue of songs in the process. With a new album due out this weekend, he’s bringing his supporting tour to Leicester next week on Sunday 8 December.
One of the hardest working artists in the business, he’s released countless albums, written children’s books (‘The Fascinating Adventures of Little Bee’), played every festival under the sun, and even organises his own (the annual ‘Foolhardy Folk Fest’). As vital a voice in folk music today as when he started, in 2023 Beans on Toast notably delivered a speech for the Campaign of Nuclear Disarmament from Glastonbury’s iconic Pyramid Stage too.
An unrepentant optimist whose songs celebrate all that is wonderful about the human spirit, his live shows are similarly uplifting and have taken him from SOLD OUT headline shows in the UK to major international festivals and stages across the globe as far as America, Australia, Europe, and beyond.
His latest single, Why?, is out now. A song all about those existential questions with potentially non-existent answers, Beans says of the track: “Why? Is a song about life’s big questions, the ones that don’t have answers. Sometimes, it’s good to just ponder the mystery of it all. It’s fun. I kinda see it as an old skool hymn with a twist!”
He releases his new album, ‘Wild Goose Chasers’, on 1st December, with a full supporting tour. He performs at The International in Leicester on Sunday 8 December. Tickets are on sale HERE.
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Playlist
Enjoy a selection of Beans on Toast’s back catalogue and then grab some tickets to next weekend’s show.
