The already-packed Liverpool International Music Festival (LIMF) programme has expanded with more than 60 acts added to the line-up.

Taking place from Friday 29 to Sunday 31 July, the festival has a new look for 2022 as it becomes a multi-venue, city centre event with the aim of boosting Liverpool’s music sector which has suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tickets are already on sale for artists such as UB40 ft Ali Campbell, De La Soul and Heather Small, with two of the gigs – The Zutons and Girls Don’t Sync – already sold out.

Organisers have now announced there is even more to enjoy including a Return to the Timepiece event which is a celebration of the legendary 70s Liverpool soul and R&B nightclub by equally as legendary DJ Les Spaine, and American rock band We Are Scientists will perform at Arts Club Liverpool.

With an emphasis on making music as accessible as possible, many of the new LIMF additions are completely FREE. These include:

• A set at The Merchant with DJ Greg Wilson who is regarded as one of the most important figures on the UK dance scene.
• A special nod to the impact of the festival’s very own talent development programme with LIMF Academy Presents… which will see the Academy talent showcased at the Kazimier Stockroom across the weekend. Expect performances from the current cohort and some alumni making special appearances including Jalen Ngonda, IAmKyami, Amber Jay, Ni Maxine and many more.
• Still Do The Right Thing – LIMF partners with BOLD and Liverpool John Moores University to delve into the relationship between music, art, fashion and activism using Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing as the stimulus. Creative responses will be exhibited and panel discussions will take place on the Saturday. The Sunday will see the live element of the programme with performances at District by hip-hop duo Children of Zeus, Grammy-winning jazz duo Blue Lab Beats and emerging reggae-soul artist, Aleighcia Scott among others.
• Black Nights Trail –  A tour around Liverpool 8 to explore and discover why most locals from the African Diaspora chose to party closer to home on their weekends back in the day, and the role these clubs had on the local community and the wider Liverpool music scene. It is led by poet, author, musician and presenter Curtis Watt.
• DJ sets at the Bombed Out Church in the afternoon and early evening on Sunday offer up diverse music genres for all tastes. It’s hosted by Sisu which is dedicated to showcasing women and non-binary DJs and Keep It Cryptic who are the masters of secret dance parties. The musical programme with feature DJs from both crews.

Venues include the M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, the Bombed Out Church (St Luke’s), Invisible Wind Factory, 24 Kitchen Street, District, Arts Club Liverpool, Camp and Furnace, The Merchant, Kazimier Stockroom, LJMU John Lennon Art & Design Building, Ettie’s and Chapters of Us.

As well as programming gigs in venues, the LIMF team has also supported a number of promoters across the city to enable them to stage their own events as part of LIMF 2022, adding more to the offer for music lovers over the weekend. Some of these shows including EVOL presents…We Are Scientists plus support at Arts Club Liverpool, and A Jazz Happening courtesy of The Wombat at Etties.

Liverpool’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Visitor Economy, Councillor Harry Doyle, said:

“Music lovers are really spoilt for choice with the LIMF line-up! There is so much going on across one weekend and I’m delighted to see that there are so many free events.

“The ethos of LIMF has always been to make live music as accessible as possible and ticket prices are always kept low as a result. Despite being a venue-based event this year, we are sticking to that ethos and at the same time we are making sure that we are driving much-needed footfall to the music venues – large and small – which have been hit so hard by the pandemic.

“It’s going to be a great weekend and with two of the events already a sell-out, I urge people to get their tickets as soon as possible.”

LIMF Curator, Yaw Owusu, said:

“Programming LIMF has been really rewarding this year and we’ve had great support from our music venues who welcome the economic boost they will receive as a result of being part of team LIMF.

“It’s also been great to support music promoters in the city with a dedicated fund to help them stage events under the LIMF banner – it feels like we are making a conscious and concerted effort to pump some renewed energy back into our music eco-system.

“As always, it’s a diverse LIMF line-up with so many music genres spotlighted across the three days, so there really is something for everyone. I’m really proud of how this year has shaped up and it’s great to be bringing live music back to the city again on such an impressive scale.”

Ni Maxine, from The Wombat which is partnering with LIMF to deliver the A Jazz Happening event, said:

“For so long, we have wanted to create a space in Liverpool for artists in the jazz space to gather and collaborate and be paid fairly for their contributions and this wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of Liverpool International Music Festival. We are looking forward to being able to contribute to the wonderful offer of LIMF 2022!

Ticket prices will vary per venue, with prices starting from just £5 to £35 plus booking fee. Some events will be free but tickets are still required for many of them. #LIMF2022

For full details of the line-up to date, and to benefit from Early Bird tickets, head to the LIMF website here.

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