Award-winning festival Sound City takes over Liverpool City Centre once more Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th May with headliners The Royston Club and Dylan John Thomas as well as afternoon headline sets from Corella and STONE. Sounds good right? I’m Jake Marley and here’s the bands and artists you simply CAN’T MISS alongside the headliners!
SATURDAY MAY 3RD
NIEVE ELLA
(Grand Central)
Well on her way to becoming an infinitely relatable Gen Z indie-pop icon, NIEVE ELLA is a force of nature. Her Sound City set is set to be, as the kids say, a MOMENT!
RIANNE DOWNEY
(Grand Central)
As seen on Glastonbury’s Pyramid singing with Paul Heaton, RIANNE DOWNEY will one day grace that stage in her own right and it might well be sooner than you think. She’s a superstar.
PANIC SHACK
(Arts Club Theatre)
Effervescent Cardiff punks PANIC SHACK are one of the best and most fun live bands you’ll see all year. Their latest single Gok Wan is the all-singing all-dancing pop-punk anthem of summer 2025.
DIRTY BLONDE
(The Jacaranda)
What’s my favourite EP of 2025 thus far? Well that’d be rising Manchester duo DIRTY BLONDE‘s phenomenal Looking For Trouble. They’ve been playing packed out shows elsewhere and fierce anthems like Checkmate are worthy of much bigger stages. See them in an intimate setting like The Jac whilst you can.
CLIFFORDS
(Arts Club Loft)
The next big guitar band out of Ireland? Why not. Five piece straight outta Cork, CLIFFORDS do evocative, do captivating, and do indie-pop-rock really damn well. Get a load of Iona Lynch‘s vocals. Wow.
SUNDAY MAY 4TH
THE CHEAP THRILLS
(Grand Central)
Keep Cheap Forever. Plain and simple one of Liverpool’s finest cult live bands of the past decade & a half, THE CHEAP THRILLS are about as near to an absolute must for anyone and everyone’s Sound City Sunday plans as you can get. This will go off. Big time.
MAYA DELILAH
(Arts Club Theatre)
Soon to be superstar MAYA DELILAH just released the most majestic, alluring debut album of the year. A masterpiece filled with gorgeous guitars, honeyed vocals and the most immaculate, warm glowing vibes. Unreal.
RUBY J
(Arts Club Loft)
One of the best raw talents this industry has seen for a very long time. Vocal powerhouse like no other, RUBY J is the groove, jazz, blues and SOUL of the Sound City weekend.
PRIMA QUEEN
(Kazimier Stockroom)
I never thought I’d right the words “Meryl Streep is an anthem” but thanks to the incredible PRIMA QUEEN I did. Their EP Not The Baby and freshly-released candid and tonnes of fun debut album The Prize are absolutely jam-packed full of witty alt-rock bangers making this one a must.
ISSY SUTCLIFFE
(The Shipping Forecast)
A force to be reckoned with, ISSY SUTCLIFFE‘s set in one of the more intimate settings of the festival might just blow you away! Full of energy, snarling, seductive punk attitude and beautifully raw intensity, things might get FERAL!
Full lineup, day splits and stage splits can be found below with more information available at www.soundcity.uk.com
Day tickets, full weekend passes and VIP upgrades all available via Seetickets.com
