Liverpool’s famous music scene will be celebrated this May as a new initiative, Liverpool Music Month, is launched.

Delivered by Culture Liverpool and Sound City, the programme will run from Friday 1 to Sunday 31 May 2026 and will see live performances, cultural events, and community activity take place throughout the city region.

The audience at Sound City.

Liverpool Music Month’s May-long 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 since 2017.

Creating a transatlantic partnership between two of the world’s great music cities, Liverpool Music Month celebrates both cities’ standing as historic centres of trade, their musical legacies and the new generations of artists shaping their futures, strengthening international cultural ties through a shared celebration of music.

Cllr Mike Wharton, Liverpool City Region Deputy Mayor, said:

“Music is at the heart of the Liverpool City Region, it’s part of our DNA and we need no excuse to celebrate our musical capabilities. Our artists have inspired generations and taken the world by storm. It is why Liverpool was designated a UNESCO City of Music more than ten years ago.

“We are already working on how we can build a more equitable, sustainable and innovative music industry with projects like MusicFutures and now Liverpool Music Month will be a showcase of the talent we help influence.”

Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, Councillor Harry Doyle, said:

“As a city, we are incredibly proud of our famous musical heritage, as well as our new generations of emerging talent who continue to put us on the map. 

“From major concerts, events, and festivals featuring global artists, to the small independent venues, pubs, and bars brimming with local musicians, Liverpool really does have music running through its veins.

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

“We can’t wait to bring artists, venues, communities, and visitors together – in May and beyond – to celebrate our incredible music scene in true Liverpool style.”

Kicking off Liverpool Music Month is Sound City Festival, which brings 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 there are gigs across all genres 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.

Keyside performing at Sound City 2025 (c) Sound City

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.

With many events still to be confirmed, the month will also feature new commissions, pop-up performances, and community-led events, celebrating the full spectrum of Liverpool’s music scene from grassroots to global.

In the coming weeks, Liverpool Music Month will also launch an open commissioning fund inviting venues, promoters, artists and music organisations to apply for support to deliver their own events, performances, training opportunities, and creative activations as part of the programme. The fund will help ensure that Liverpool Music Month 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.

Liverpool Music Month will be followed by Liverpool Summer of Music, a city-region-wide celebration of live music and cultural events taking place from June through to August.

Maxi Zee performing at Sound City 2025 (c) Sound City

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 communities and neighbourhoods throughout the boroughs.

From the stage of The Cavern Club and global arena shows to the region’s legendary grassroots spaces, Liverpool has shaped the sound of modern music.

Liverpool Summer of Music’s events focus on 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 eternal festival headline favourites Nile Rodgers & Chic performing at Lock and Quay in Bootle.

Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music 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. Liverpool Music Month will be the first event to capture that same energy, once again putting music at the heart of the city’s cultural life and international reputation.

Underlining its continued importance as a centre of musical talent and export, analysis by the BPI shows that, outside London, Liverpool produces more chart-topping albums than any other UK city.

Together, Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music will 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.

Further programme details will be announced in the coming months. For more information visit www.liverpoolmusiccity.com.

Sound City’s Managing Director, Becky Ayres, said:

“Pulling together as a city is what Liverpool has always done, and we – our community of venues, artists, promoters, cultural organisations and public representatives – are doing just that this spring and summer in the name of music. 

“Our opening Liverpool Music Month brings focus to May, a time when our communities and regional music industry emerge from the colder months to open festival season. There’s no Glastonbury this year, which will leave a huge gap in the summer plans for so many live music lovers from the Liverpool City Region, so the Summer of Music is here to more than make amends. Indoors and outdoors, we’ll share in the same sense of occasion as we swap the fields for the streets and squares of our home city.

“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 world capital and 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 1950’s to the huge shows performed here by artists such as Foo Fighters, the shared love of music extends across the Atlantic as effortlessly as it has always done.”

Singer-songwriter, Jamie Webster, says:

“Every year I’m usually performing at festivals around this time, but this year I’ll be staying in Liverpool and enjoying what our music city has to offer. Is there a better city than this place? Nothing better than when the sun is out by the Mersey and there’s music on the Pier Head or having a scran on Bold Street before a gig at The Jac or catching a random acoustic set on the street. I know where I’d rather be: In my Liverpool home.”

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:

“From the streets of New York to the docks of Liverpool, music connects us all. As we hand the baton to Liverpool Music Month, we celebrate the shared spirit of creativity, community, and the enduring friendship between our cities. 

“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.”

Vanessa Reed, Chief Executive of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic adds:

“When I was living stateside, I witnessed how New York Music Month united the industry and celebrated the artists, institutions, entrepreneurs and companies that are driving the city’s next chapter. Liverpool’s flourishing music scene deserves a similar spotlight. I hope this will be the start of more collaborations between the Mayors’ culture and creative industry teams in sister port cities where the benefits of music in regeneration, placemaking and economic growth couldn’t be clearer.”