Feature: rock music in Leicester and Leicestershire 2011
This page is part of the Music Section
Our concise guide to the rock music scene in Leicester.
Of all the Arts genres in Leicester/shire, music
stands out. Within music, rock is by far the biggest genre. Our
guide gives you the heads up on the bands, the venues, the gigs and the music.
Bands
Leicester and Leicestershire is home to over 250 working
rock bands.
This includes world famous bands, nationally rising bands,
local bands who make their own original songs, covers bands and tributes to great
bands.
You can see all of the bands playing original musicin one
place on our list
of Leicester bands. New ones are added every week!
Some of these bands are very new; others have been playing
for several years. The whole spectrum of rock flavours in represented in this
list: metal, indie, punk, power pop, alternative, post-hardcore, blues, reggae,
ska, new wave, dance, electro, grunge ... if you like it, you'll find it here:
Our list of current Leicester bands.
Of course, some stand out more than others; we have featured
our selection some of the best.
You can find out more about a wide cross section of bands
by reading our gig reviews
page.
If you want to see some of the bands playing live, visit
our band videos page.
You can see which bands are playing on our daily gigs
listing.
If you want to hear the latest recordings by local acts,
see our New Tracks page and check
out our reviews of recent EPs and Albums.
Venues
So, where do all these bands play? In Leicester there are
plenty of live music venues to choose from, ranging in size from the O2 Academy
through to the small venues, such as the Shed, The SoundHouse
and Lock 42.
We have a full
listing of all Leicester Venues and a page
giving news about
the latest venues to open and what is happening in them.
Sub91 opened last year in the city centre.
Part of a national chain of venues, this 450 capacity venue has a stage that
has seen both national name bands and some of our local bands.
Among the smaller venues, The Shed stands out as the birthplace
of many bands, including Kasabian and the proving ground for large numbers
of young bands who find out what its like to play live on the stage there,
for the first time.
The Donkey, Lock 42, The Soundhouse and
the Musician play
a key role in supporting a wide range of musical genres and some famous acts
can be seen on their stages. A busy and popular destination for the rock crowd
is The Firebug, with its upstairs room where bands play on a
recently re-designed stage that has a good sound system. The ground floor bar
is a favourite watering place for the local rock fraternity.
Just outside the city centre Sumo has
been an important venue for bands and live music for a long time. In the city
centre, The Exchange bar regularly puts on acoustic acts, as
does The
Turkey Cafe.
See what's on at all the venues on our daily
rock gigs listing.
See our feature article on the Leicester
SoundHouse.
Festivals
Leicester is also a centre for live music festivals.
We have a page that covers all
the festival in Leicester and feature articles
on key events, such as
The Glastonbudget Festival for tributes and original bands.
Strawberry
Fields - a new festival that got off to a good start in 2010 and followed
that up with a great event in 2011
Summer Sundae -
a well established festival for a wide range of musical idioms
Oxjam -
Leicester's contribution to a national movement of charity aid for Oxfam.
Download - we covered the Download festival in 2011.
See our reports on all Leicester Festival in 2011.
Songs and music
Our wealth of talented bands produce some crackingly good
tunes. We feature some of the best songs on our records
reviews page and
on our page listing new tracks from our local artists.
Leiester has had a rock scene for generations; we might
think it all started in recent years but in fact, rock has been
around for a lot longer. Our article on the roots
of rock in Leicester tries
to discover some of the bands that were followed by the older generation.
Singers and soloists
Our rock scene is not only about bands but also about the
very talented individuals who also perform in our live music venues. We have
some outstanding singer/songwriters.
See our list of Leicester
Singers and Soloists.
Live music often can be found at free concerts arranged
in the city centre.
Other pages you might like
Our
look ahead to what's rocking in Leicester for 2011.
Services for bands and musicians
How to promote your band
