Feature article: how to get a gig in Leicester

Leicester has a vibrant scene for live music. This is growing all the time now with new venues opening and new local bands breaking. Bands from all over the UK (and sometimes further afield) regularly come to Leicester to play.

If your band wants to play in Leicester/shire, this is how to do it.

Local Leicester/shire bands

Leicester has a lot of venues where bands can play. Check out the kind of gigs going on at those venues by looking at our gigs listing. If yours is a young band with a 14+ or 16+ following, ask The Shed to play you at one of their Saturday afternoon gigs or if yours is an under 18 band try to get on the WOO shows - contact details are on this page.

Out of town bands

If your band is from outside of Leicester/shire, you can contact the various venues or promoters directly to see if they can offer you a gig. Alternatively, contact one of our local bands to see if you can get a support slot with them. You might also talk to them about arranging a gig swop. You will need to bring some people to support your slot; use either Facebook or Myspace to do this and let us know the gig date so we can list it.

Things to check before you contact a venue or promoter

Research your venue before you phone. See what kinds of bands are playing there. Don't try to get a gig at the Donkey if you'r a heavy metal band! Dont ask Ragebreed for a gig if you'r a light acoustic emo band. You can get the links to the venues from our gigs page. Look to see if bands with a similar musical style to yours are already playing that night. Check out their tracks on Myspace.

Things you should check before you agree to play

If a venue or a promoter is prepared to offer you a date to play, ask the following questions

• Will you get paid, if so how much and when and by whom
• What equipment is provided by the venue and what will you have to bring
• What will the venue or promoter do to support your performance, in the way of publicity
• What is the age group for the night, some are 16+, some 18+ and some are all ages. Weekend dates tend to be 18+.
• Where can you park for load in. Often a nightmare in Leicester's city centre.
• What time is load in
• What time will your band be playing and when will that be decided

Don't assume anything and if you dont ask, the chances are they wont tell you. Always ask for an email address of the promoter. If for any reason your band is unable to play, tell the person who hired you as soon as possible. The one thing people hate most is bands that just fail to turn up and don't bother to tell anyone they are not coming. They never get invited back. The next worst thing are bands that turn up and play and dont sell any tickets at all.

How to prepare for your gig

Leicester's live music scene is perhaps unusual in that there is no walk-in, ready-made, crowd for live music events.

Bands playing on a night make their own crowd, for pretty much all the venues. So bands can't turn up and expect to play to a audience, unless they are on a line up with a set of crowd-pulling local bands. If your's is an out of town band, you have to work hard to get fans to come down and support your set. People in Leicester don't go out to see unknown bands, but they can be enouraged to support a band if they like their music.

There are a few venues which offer free entry gigs (often put on by Promoters like Melting Pot and sometimes the Firebug bar and these can be very popular) but most of the others charge between £4 and £6 entry with £5 being a typical ticket price. Pretty much everyone buys tickets on the door.

Venue owners and promoters watch bands to see how much effort they put into getting people down to support them. If you don't do anything to publicise your performance, your Leicester show is likely to be a one-off. Even if venues or promoters do publicise an event, its is still necessary for bands to encourage fans to come down and support them.

Publicise your gig

Make sure that everyone knows that your band is playing in Leicester/shire. Send the details of your show to us at Arts in Leicestershire so we can put it on our gigs listing. Use Myspace and Facebook to promote your show. You can also use other sites like Ents 24 and Pineapster.

Newspapers and radio

You can also get details into the weekly entertainments guide of the Leicester Mercury. The guide is published on Thursdays so you will need to get the details to them well in advance. Phone the details through to 0116 222 4241.

Local raio stations like BBC radio Leicester, Demon FM, Takeover Radio and Leicester Sound might also publicise your show.

Leicester's Live Music Venues

The Shed

Yeoman Street, Leicester, LE1 1UT. Tel: 0116 262 2255. The Shed on Myspace.

The 200 capacity Shed is one of Leicester's five permanent live music venues. It's main room has a stage, theatre style lighting, a permanent sound system with sound engineers present throughout the gigs, licensed bar and a lower bar (100 cap) which is sometimes also used for smaller live music events. A variety of music styles are played, either when the Shed organises its own nights or when promoters come in to put on nights.

The Shed runs gigs for young bands at their fans (14+ or 16+). See our page on WOO and find WOO on Facebook.

Glastonbudget festival auditions are held at the Shed on Sunday evenings.

The Shed is also available to bands to hire if they want to put on their own shows. Such shows can be more successful than those where bands just book in on a first come first served basis. Some nights promoted by bands have been very successful.

The Charlotte - has now closed down

The Musician

Clyde Street, Leicester, Tel: 0116 251 0080. The Musician web site.

The Musician is a permanent live music venue with a stage, lighting, house PA system and sound engineer present throughout. There is a bar. It is a one room venue. Check the Musician web site before you apply to play there because their music policy is different from that of the Shed or the SoundHouse, where they tend on the whole to play rock. The Musician tends to specialise in rockabilly, americana, roots and folk but does sometimes put on rock bands. It is also a noted venue for solo singers and acoustic artists.

The Firebug

1 Millstone Lane, Leicester, LE1 5JN T: 0116 255 1228. Firebug web site.

The Firebug is a large pub in the city centre, popular with students and the music fraternity. It has an upstairs room where most live music events are held. This is a stage and a fixed PA system and lighting. A sound engineer is present at most gigs. The upstairs room has its own bar, in addition to the main bars on the ground floor. It is possible to hire the upstairs room for shows.

Sumo

54 Braunstone Gate, Leicester, LE3 5LG. Tel: 0116 255 1906. Sumo bar on Myspace

Sumo is a bit out of the City centre in the Narborough Road/Braunstone Gate area but this is a popular neighbourhood for students and young people. The bands room is downstairs and is about 200 capacity and has its own bar. There is a stage, fixed lighting, house PA system and a sound engineer is present at most gigs. To enquire about gigs go to their Myspace and send them a message. The in-house promoter is Andy Wright and he is responsible for the majority of live music events there.

The Donkey

The Donkey Pub, 203 Welford Road, Leicester, LE2 6BH. The Donkey Bar Myspace.

The Donkey has a definite music policy and they tend to put on the more melodic, acoustic shows. They seldom play rock bands. It is however a busy venue and usually has a good crowd for its style of music. Don't try to get a booking there unless your style of music fits with what they usually put on.

See our news page: Leicester's new venues, opening in the autumn of 2010

Promoters

Quite a lot of the gigs in this locality are put on by promoters.

We have a page about Leicester gig promoters.

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