May announced as Liverpool Music Month with events across the city

May has been designated Liverpool Music Month with a host of live performances and other events planned across the city.

The new initiative, a collaboration between Culture Liverpool and Sound City, will celebrate Liverpool’s world-famous music scene – with the programme also twinned with New York Music Month which has taken place annually in the American metropolis since 2017.

Music lovers will be able to enjoy performances, cultural events and community activities, highlighting and celebrating the artists, venues and locations which have helped make Liverpool an official UNESCO City of Music.

The month kicks off with Sound City – the UK’s leading festival for new music - which takes place on the weekend of May 2-3, featuring both homegrown and international talent. This year’s line-up includes headliners Keo and Jalen Ngonda, with more than 150 artists appearing at 10 venues across the city centre over two days.

Meanwhile across the water on May 2, the Dark Reign Metal Fest also takes place at Birkenhead’s Future Yard.

Performances by Emmylou Harris (playing a sold-out gig at Philharmonic Hall on May 11 as part of her European Farewell Tour), The Longest Johns, Kingfishr, Biird, James Morrison and Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox are among those being spotlighted during the four-week-long celebration, along with Kinks’ musical Sunny Afternoon at the Liverpool Empire.

At the Liverpool Philharmonic there is a busy programme of concerts across all genres including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's Celebration of the Beach Boys, Roland Gift Presents Fine Young Cannibals, Max Cooper, and US acts Hannah Wicklund and Ondara.

The month concludes with the Baltic Weekender which takes over multiple venues across Saturday and Sunday, May 30-31, including Camp and Furnace and Brick Street, with a line-up of house music, disco, techno, bass and grime sets.

And there will also be new commissions, pop-up performances and community-led events, all celebrating the wide range of Liverpool’s music scene from grassroots to global.

Then Liverpool Music Month will be followed by Liverpool Summer of Music, a city-region-wide celebration of live music and cultural events taking place from June to August and which includes a mixture of gigs at independent venues like the Jacaranda and 24 Kitchen Street to major Anfield stadium shows by Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance, Lewis Capaldi in Sefton Park, and festival headline favourites Nile Rodgers & Chic performing at Lock and Quay in Bootle.

Harry Doyle, Liverpool’s Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, says: “Our city is alive with music on any given day of the week, but this summer promises to be an even bigger showcase of everything that makes Liverpool one of the greatest music cities in the world.”

And Sound City's managing director Becky Ayres adds: “Pulling together as a city is what Liverpool has always done, and we - our community of venues, artists, promoters, cultural organisations and public representatives - are doing just that this spring and summer in the name of music.

“Twinning with New York Music Month, another globally recognised music city, is notable, not only for deepening Liverpool and the UK’s links to progressive, arts-focused cities around the world, but also reinforcing the city’s international outlook. As a UNESCO City of Music, the world continues to look to us to protect our musical heritage as well as promote new talent.”

Liverpool Music Month runs from May 1-31 at venues across the city. More details HERE