Liverpool gears up for inaugural Music Month

Liverpool is gearing up for the launch of its very first Music Month, which begins this Friday, 1 May.

Delivered by Culture Liverpool and Sound City, the inaugural Liverpool Music Month will run throughout May and will see live performances, cultural events, and community activity take place across the city region, before transitioning into Liverpool Summer of Music, which will run until September.

This unique celebration of live music spotlights the artists, venues and communities that have made Liverpool a UNESCO City of Music, and the programme is twinned with New York Music Month, an established fixture in New York City’s cultural calendar which will feature 60-plus events when it returns for its 9th year this June.

Ahead of the official start of Liverpool Music Month, a special event will take place on Liverpool’s iconic Snowdrop ferry on Thursday 30 April. ‘Live on the Mersey’ will feature an acoustic performance from Merseybeat troubadours Keyside, alongside sets from some of Liverpool City Region’s most exciting new artists, all set against the backdrop of the city’s world-famous skyline.

Liverpool Music Month will then officially begin on Friday 1 May at Sound City Plus conference, when Shira Gans, Senior Executive Director for Policy and Programmes at New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and founder of New York Music Month, will hand over the baton from New York – creating a transatlantic partnership between two of the world’s great music cities.

The rest of the month will see a huge range of gigs, new commissions, pop-up performances, and community-led events take place throughout the region, celebrating the full spectrum of Liverpool’s music scene from grassroots to global.

Kicking off the programme, Sound City Festival will bring both homegrown and international talent to wider prominence over the weekend of Saturday 2 to Sunday 3 May 2026.

The Dark Reign Metal Fest also takes place at Birkenhead’s Future Yard on Saturday 2 May, and performances by Emmy Lou Harris, The Longest Johns, Kingfishr, Biird, Sunny Afternoon, James Morrison, and Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox are among those being spotlighted during the four-week-long celebration.

At the Liverpool Philharmonic, gigs across all genres will take place on most days, 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.

Merseyside pop superstar Melanie C will also be headlining a series of performances at Jacaranda Baltic on May 1.

Wrapping up the month, Baltic Weekender is set to take over multiple venues across Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 May, including Camp and Furnace and Brick Street, with a line-up of up-to-date house music, disco, techno, bass, and grime sets.

For full details of all live performances taking place across the month, including how to get your tickets, visit: https://liverpoolmusiccity.com/whats-on/.

Special street performances will also take place as part of Liverpool Music Month, including Katumba (drum line) on 2 May from 3:00pm – 3:30pm and Sky Valley Mistress on 3 May from 3:30pm – 3:50pm, both outside The Jacaranda on Slater Street. Other pop-up performances will appear across the city throughout May.

As the month draws to a close, focus will shift to Liverpool Summer of Music, a city-region-wide celebration of live music and cultural events taking place from June through to August, supported by the Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership.   The programme will shine a spotlight on the full calendar of festivals, concerts, and events taking place across the Liverpool City Region, from the city centre to the communities and neighbourhoods throughout the boroughs.

Liverpool Summer of Music will highlight influential independent venues – such as 24 Kitchen Street, The Jacaranda, and other cutting-edge indoor and outdoor spaces that continue to nurture new waves of artists – and major city events including Foo Fighters and My Chemical Romance’s huge Anfield Stadium shows, Lewis Capaldi taking over Sefton Park, and festival headline favourites Nile Rodgers & Chic performing at Lock and Quay in Bootle.

During Liverpool Summer of Music, local venues, promoters, artists, and music organisations have also been invited to deliver their own events, performances, training opportunities, and creative activations with support from a dedicated commissioning fund, provided by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

The fund will help ensure Summer of Music reflects the creativity and diversity of the city region’s music scene, supporting grassroots activity and enabling new ideas and collaborations to take place across the region. Applications are currently being reviewed, and details of the successful commissions will be shared in due course.

Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music are set to build on the global momentum created when the city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, an event watched by 162 million people worldwide and which generated more than £54 million for the local economy.

Together, Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music invite music lovers from across the UK and beyond to experience the best live music the region has to offer, reinforcing Liverpool’s reputation as one of the world’s great music cities while ensuring the benefits of music tourism are felt across the entire city region.

Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, Councillor Harry Doyle, said: “As we approach the start of our very first Liverpool Music Month, we’re so excited to bring artists, venues, communities, and visitors together to celebrate our famous music scene in true Liverpool style.

“We’re honoured to be taking the baton from New York City and following in the footsteps of its incredibly successful music month, which has been a staple of its cultural calendar for the past nine years. Liverpool and New York already share such a special relationship, from our rich musical histories to our maritime connections, and we’re looking forward to strengthening our ties even further through programmes like this.

“Our city is alive with music on any given day of the week, but this month – and this summer – promises to be an even bigger showcase of everything that makes Liverpool one of the greatest music cities in the world.”

Sound City’s Managing Director, Becky Ayres, said: “We’re extremely proud to be part of delivering the first ever Liverpool Music Month. 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. From the first rock and roll vinyl record arriving at the docks in the 1950s to the huge shows performed here by international artists such as Foo Fighters, the shared love of music extends across the Atlantic as effortlessly as it has always done.”

Shira Gans, Senior Executive Director for Policy and Programmes at New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and founder of New York Music Month, said:  “I’m thrilled to be in Liverpool this week to celebrate our shared spirit of creativity and the enduring friendship between our cities – and of course, to mark the start of its first ever Music Month by handing over the baton from New York City.

“The idea for Liverpool Music Month was born during conversations when Mayor Steve Rotheram and a delegation of Liverpool City Region cultural leaders visited us in New York back in 2024, and it’s fantastic to be here to see it come to fruition.

“The ties between Liverpool and New York run deep: both have rich musical histories that continue to inspire generations. We’re excited to see Liverpool carry forward this celebration of talent, community, and the universal language of music.”