Music Venues Alliance reveals 58 “must see” acts including one headlining Northampton this month

Over the past three weeks, 800 members of the Music Venues Alliance – which was founded by the Music Venue Trust - were asked to nominate the live acts that they believe every music fan should see in 2025.

Online music site Drowned in Sound tallied up the votes from venue owners and promoters across the UK to reveal The Class of 2025 longlist.

The next stage of voting will now take place with a panel from The Association of Music Editors creating a shortlist of 10 acts.

CEO and founder of the Music Venue Trust, Mark Davyd, said: “With so many great new acts out there trying to build their audience, skills, experience and their careers, there really has never been a better time to be out seeing live music at a grassroots level.

“The Class of 2025 Longlist is a fantastic snapshot of just some of those acts which the UK’s grassroots music venue operators have already identified as contributing to the future of British music.”

Many acts on the list have played venues in Northamptonshire and the wider region in recent years including Benefits, Big Special, Deadletter, English Teacher, Fat Dog, Getdown Services, Tom A Smith and Welly.

The Bug Club, who also appear on the list, will return to The Black Prince in Northampton on Monday, January 27, as part of Independent Venue Week.

The eventual winner and runner up once voting has taken place will receive a share of the £1,000 prize fund from sponsor, See Tickets.

The founder of Drowned in Sound Sean Adams said: “This Class of 2025 project is an amazing thing to help organise to kick off the 25th year of our publication that has always celebrated a varied selection of acts.

“The longlist spans a range of genres from anti-Brexit punk rock to African-inspired jazz.

“It’s fascinating to see which acts that venue owners, from across the nations and regions, who put on early shows by everyone from Adele and Coldplay to Katy Perry and Oasis have recommended, drawing from their vast knowledge of what’s happening in today’s grassroots music scene.

“There are some fantastic new acts in the longlist, including some of my personal favourites Lambrini Girls, ARXX, and TTSSFU, among many names that were also new to me.

“Massive thanks to Music Venue Trust for their assistance in getting Grassroots Music Venues to vote, and to See Tickets for backing this prize.”

Rich Collings from See Tickets added: “We’re proud to already work with many incredible grassroots venues across the UK and we’re all huge music fans here so adding our support to this project makes total sense to us.

“We’ll also add that the list of artists these venues have put forward as nominees looks fantastic and we can’t wait to see who the eventual winner will be. Good luck to all the nominees.”

The Music Venue Trust was created in 2014 and works to protect, secure and improve the UK's grassroots music venues.

For more information, visit https://www.drownedinsound.org.

The Class of 2025 longlist is as follows:

Amelia Coburn

ARXX

Benefits

Big Special

Carsick

Chalk

Chanel Beads

Cherym

Cinelli Brothers

Congratulations

Corella

Corto.alto

CVC

Deadletter

Dearthworms

Dirty Blonde

Ditz

Elles Bailey

English Teacher

Fat Dog

Freddie Halkon

Geordie Greep

Getdown Services

Gurriers

High Fade

High Parasite

Home Counties

IST IST

Lambrini Girls

Lauren Housley and the Northern Cowboys

Lice

Lime Garden

Loose Articles

Man/Woman/Chainsaw

Maruja

Melin Melyn

Mother Vulture

N'Famady Kouyate

Pale Blue Eyes

Panic Shack

Parker

Pet Needs

Plantoid

Problem Patterns

Shambolics

SNAYX

Tara Clerkin Trio

Thank

The Bug Club

The Kairos

The K’s

The Meffs

The Stray Pursuit

Tom A Smith

TTSSFU

W.H. Lung

Welly

Wunderhorse