Kicking off on Wednesday 19th May Liverpool Sound City is a festival which sees 450 musicians and bands playing 35 venues, with 1000 conference delegates, and 35,000 music fans, all squeezed impossibly into the space of four days. In the words of NME it’s quite simply “one of the biggest musical events the city has seen” and who are we to argue?
As well as being super-intensive the music on offer is also mega-eclectic, with the likes of Paloma Faith, Afrika Bambaataa, Hot Club de Paris, and Tinchy Stryder amongst the top names appearing this year.
As always there’s plenty of acoustic goodness on the agenda, with many of the events having been added to the Liverpool Acoustic Diary already. However, in time-honoured tradition, we’ve picked out some of the best and highlighted them below. Aren’t we good to you?
Full details about the festival can be found at liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk
TUESDAY 18TH MAY (pre-festival event)
Mark Morriss (The Bluetones) @ Mojo, Liverpool
plus Married to the Sea, Sensorites, Fall of Kings, Beaten Track DJs.
Doors 8pm, Tickets £5 myspace.com/mellowtonenight
Mojo Bar, Back Berry Street, Liverpool L1 4BG
WEDNESDAY 19TH MAY
Dead Cities @ Leaf Tea Shop & Bar
with Lizzie Nunnery, Forest City Lovers, The Grande, Acollective
Wednesday 19th May – 7.30pm – Free entry
Leaf Cafe, 27 Parliament Street, Liverpool, L8 5RN
Martha Tilston @ The Masque Loft
Wednesday 19th May – 7pm to 11.30pm
With Delta Maid, Dan Wilson,and Molly Jones
Tickets £7 or free with wristband
The Masque & Ink, 90 Seel St Liverpool, L1 4BH
THURSDAY 20TH MAY
Liverpool Acoustic presents @ Studio 2 at Parr Street
Joe Warricker, Summerskin, The Second Grace, The Good Intentions, Acollective, Laura James
Thursday 20th May – 7pm to 12.00am – Free entry liverpoolacoustic.co.uk
Studio 2, Parr Street Studios
33-45 Parr Street, Liverpool, L1 4JN
Carrie Hayden @ Heebie Jeebies
Thursday 20th May – 7.00pm to 11.30pm – Free entry
with The Staves, Marc Sunderland, Mikhail Paskalev, Tina Refsnes
Heebie Jeebies, 80-82 Seel Street, Liverpool, L1 4BH
FRIDAY 21ST MAY
Radical Liverpool @ The Everyman Theatre
Almanac Folk, in association with Everyword Festival & Liverpool Sound City
Friday 21st May, 7.30pm
Almanac Folk are bringing together some of the city’s most talented musicians and writers to collaborate on new and traditional music inspired by Liverpool’s history of radical culture and politics, in a night of song, storytelling and spoken word.
Dave O’Dowda (of Table), Andy Hickie (“An enlightened performer… of authenticity and integrity” Radio Merseyside), Frank Cottrell Boyce (writer of Twenty Four Hour Party People, Millions and many more), Vidar Norheim (of Wave Machines), Lizzie Nunnery (author of Intemperance, and Best Performance, Fatea Folk Awards 08), Lindsay Rodden (writer / co-deviser of The Almond Tree), Stephen Sharkey (author of The May Queen), one of Liverpool’s finest folk bands The Random Family and Whitbread Award-winning poet Paul Farley will be joined by many more artists inspired by the city’s long and fiery history of campaign and dissent. myspace.com/almanacfolk
Tickets: £4.50 Call 0151 709 4776 or visit everymanplayhouse.com
Everyman Theatre, 5 Hope Street Liverpool, L1 9BH
Amsterdam @ Stanley Theatre
With Sean Francis Butler & The Stunards, Jack Roberts, The Sums, Strawhouses
Friday 21st May – 7pm – tickets £8 or entry free with wristband
Stanley Theatre, 160 Mount Pleasant Street, Liverpool L3 9PA
Mellowtone @ Mello Mello
Capac (midnight set), Eva Peterson, Autumn Owls, Johnny Sands, Hannah Peel, Andy Steele, Seerauber Jenny.
Friday 21st May, 8.00pm – 1.00am
Mello Mello, 40 – 42 Slater Street, Liverpool, L1 4BX
SATURDAY 22ND MAY
Fionn Regan @ Static Gallery
with Danny and the Champions of the World, The Random Family, The Staves, Thomas J Speight
Saturday 22nd May – 7.00pm – tickets £7.30 or free with wristband
Static Gallery, 23 Roscoe Lane, Liverpool, L1 9JD
A Genuine Freakshow @ Mello Mello
with Binary Toad, Letters in Red, Christine Owman, The Butterfly Explosion, Yuval Bilgorai, Sodagreen
Saturday 22nd May, 4pm
Mello Mello, 40 – 42 Slater Street, Liverpool, L1 4BX