Sound City is coming back to the city and this is why we are made up

2018 will see the award winning music festival/industry conference, Sound City return to its roots – Liverpool City Centre.

Not only that, but the with new festival feature Sound City Satellite. “What, where and why?” – we hear you say. Well, let us tell you why this is not only fantastic for the festival, but for the area itself.

Location

The precise location is yet to be revealed, however, the fact that we know it is going to be around the City Centre is enough to make come over all giddy. Before moving to the docklands, where the festival flourished, Sound City did an unrivalled job of creating a buzz throughout the town, bringing it to life in a way that has never been matched.

Although the festival did a great job on the docklands, its return to heart of Liverpool, after becoming a juggernaut of the UK festival scene, will see this spirit brought back on a much larger scale. From venue-to-venue, street-to-street, the May Bank Holiday Weekend will be one of the highlights of the year for anyone in the area.

The festival has earned an outstanding reputation for its inventive use of a wide variety of spaces, from cavernous warehouses through to setting up a stage on the banks of the Mersey, and this is set to continue in the spring.

Finally, there is a small blessing in the fact that the goings-on are right on your doorstep, rather than catching a shuttle bus, or public transport out of the city. A small victory, but one that could pay off in the form of catching that one extra band, having that one extra drink and exploring that little bit more.

New Talent

Obviously, the biggest change is the location on which the festivities will take place. However, the team behind it all are putting important emphasis on new music and talent within the city. Back in the old days, you couldn’t move for upcoming talent at Sound City and, although the organisers did a great job of keeping this ethos whilst on the docklands, the return to the centre means that they are bringing things back to how they used to be, if not even more so. The festival will take over a pioneering location offering a much more intimate experience, with the chance to discover 100s of new artists and experience headline acts across myriad spaces, providing the perfect platform for new artists from the area. As ever, Sound City 2018 will deliver the very best of breakthrough acts and major names both from the UK and abroad, as well as a host of independent record label parties and showcases, collaboratively working with a broad range of innovative partners.

Sound City +

Sound City prides itself on being more than music festival; it’s a network that has found peers in the likes of the famous industry festival, South x South West, Texas. The Sound City + business conference will be a pre-cursor to the Liverpool Sound City festival and will take place on Friday 4^th May.

Over the past 10 years, Sound City + conference events have been responsible for generating in excess of £25 million for the UK music business economy both on B2B and B2C initiatives. The 2018 programme will aim to build upon this success and bring an even deeper and wider business experience to the city.

Conference Director Jo Whitty said: “The conference programme will be packed with the usual mix of influential music names and innovative panels and programmes… Our core aim is the same as it was when we started, that is to offer an environment to foster belief in the region and encourage business to stay here in the North.”

Sound City Satellite

In spring 2018 they are also launching Sound City Satellite, which is two mini Sound Cities in regional towns in the North-West (the locations will be announced in the coming weeks) – Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, the two Mayors of the Manchester and Liverpool city regions, are supporting this new initiative to help bring the two juggernauts of the North-West together. The Sound City team will work with key figures in each location such as promoters, record labels and artists to design and deliver a targeted business conference and live music programme. They state their core aim is to shine a national and international spotlight on these towns, demonstrating their business, creative and cultural credentials to a national and international audience.

Sound City CEO David Pichilingi said: “If there’s one thing that Brexit taught us, it’s that there is a sense of social disenfranchisement between the suburbs…This should not be the case when you consider that this great region has been responsible for some of the most important pieces of pop culture over the past 50 years.”

Partners

You only have to take a look at the website for the 2018 edition to see the impressive array of partners that this organisation has acquired to help deliver this new twist on a contemporary classic.

They are collaborating with lots of curators, including Glastonbury’s Silver Hayes, Kendal Calling, Bluedot, Greg Wilson, Domino and Moshi Moshi, Hospital Records to name only a few, as well as local partners such as African Oyè, Mellowtone and Bido Lito! This fusion of local and national innovators is something that the festival does so well, giving locals the chance to collaborate and move up to the next level.

Limited Edition Super Early Bird tickets went on sale on 29^th September and sold like hot cakes, selling out almost immediately, however you can still get tickets for the whole weekend on the link below. The move is not only fantastic for the festival and our local artists, but for gig goers as well. Taking place on 4^th, 5^th and 6^th May, Sound City 2018 will mark a comeback that starts the next chapter of this innovative festival’s journey – get on board for the ride.

For early bird tickets and more head to the website here.