The town’s biggest free music festival returns in August when Local & Live sets up in Calverley Grounds, promising another fabulous weekend of music and fun.
The FREE music festival is a gift to the local community from the town’s thriving music scene and its local businesses. The collaboration between the artistic and commercial communities breathes life into the town centre on a weekend that is known for being quiet. Almost entirely funded by local business, RTW Together BID, particularly Maxipay Accounting Services as it’s headline sponsor. This is the third year the local employer has been a major supporter of the festival and its input has been invaluable to the security of the event.
![local and live](https://visittunbridgewells.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/local-and-live.jpg)
Held over the bank holiday weekend from 23th to 26th August, the festival draws thousands to Calverley Grounds with its showcase of the very best the local music scene has to offer before moving to Sussex Mews on bank holiday Monday. From modest beginnings on the Pantiles bandstand, the event is in its 18th year and has become the biggest free event in the area.
Once again the event will be centered on the main stage in Calverley Grounds, taking advantage of the natural Amphitheatre. It will be bolstered by a food village offering produce from exclusively local traders including Hattons, Sankeys and Roddy Burger. In addition to providing summer entertainment for Tunbridge Wells residents, it draws crowds from a much wider area, generating trade for businesses in the town centre.
Paul Dunton, Founder of Local & Live added; “We cannot wait to bring the Local & Live Festival 2024 to Calverley Grounds. We are so thrilled that this event is now a much-loved part of many local residents’ Summer calendar, and each year it grows bigger and better, attracting an audience of thousands. Retailers and hospitality businesses in the town tell us this event has helped bolster trade on a weekend previously renowned for being quiet, as families take holidays before schools start back. We cannot wait to bring another stellar line up of local talented musicians to you all.”
A characteristic feature of Local & Live is that the artists are drawn from the local music community playing their own original material, unlike most festivals who rely on high profile national performers. This gives visitors the chance to experience the wealth of talent on their own doorstep, and for many it starts a lifelong following for local artists. For the artists it provides an opportunity to experience playing in front of a substantial crowd, often their biggest audience, and to have their own work heard.
In recent years, Local & Live has been praised for its breadth of appeal, with a family friendly environment in the afternoons morphing into an energetic festival experience in the evenings. Around 60 artists perform during the four-day festival, most on the main stage in Calverley Grounds and the others at The Forum and The Trinity Theatre Gardens and Sussex Mews.
To find out more visit www.localandlive.org
Local & Live 2024 Line Up
Friday
CALVERLEY GROUNDS
9.10pm Karobela
8.20pm Bombay Monkey
7.40pm The Polygons
7.00pm Yet to Invent
6.20pm Stray Matter
5.40pm Mint Sherbets
5.00pm The Street Lights
THE FORUM
Code Marla
The Next Adenda
10pm Till Late, Free entry (donations encouraged). Line-up subject to change
THE FORUM Basement
The Airstreams
Prismatiqk
10pm Till Late, Free entry (donations encouraged), The Forum Basement is at The Sussex Arms
Line-ups subject to change
Saturday
CALVERLEY GROUNDS
9pm Isabella Coulstock (Full Band)
8.10pm Elliott Graham
7.30pm Anna Howie Band
6.50pm Country Folk
6.10pm Ash Dodd
5.25pm Valentine /Lee Willz /Stuart Worsell
4.45pm Ryan Weeks
4.05PM The Lewis Project
3.20PM The Hoolies
2.40PM Move Over Dali
2PM Freya Eastcott
1.30PM Alice Rose
1PM Esme Jones
12.30PM Gem O’Reilly
12PM Chloe Gorringe
THE FORUM
Flux Capacitor
Reptile Kin
10pm Till Late, Free entry (donations encouraged). Line-up subject to change
THE FORUM Basement
Word of Nod
Night Without Sleep
10pm Till Late, Free entry (donations encouraged), The Forum Basement is at The Sussex Arms
Line-ups subject to change
Sunday
CALVERLEY GROUNDS
9.05pm David Migden & The Twisted Roots
8.10PM The Fiery Lights
7.15PM The Orange Circus
6.30PM Higgs & The Bosons
5.50PM SuperZero
5.10PM 2.3
4.30PM Kharma & The Devil
3.50PM The Act
3.10PM Doris Amy
2.35PM Leo & Tingley
2.00PM The Tilston Sisters
1.30PM Sean de Burca
1.00PM Laura Lamn & Singing Mamas
12.30PM Jennifer Lee Ridley
12.00PM Casual Affection
THE FORUM
The Kinky Machine
Wild Horse
9.20pm Till Late, Free entry (donations encouraged). Line-up subject to change
THE FORUM Basement
Cyrano
All the Above
Steffan James
9.20pm Till Late, Free entry (donations encouraged), The Forum Basement is at The Sussex Arms
Line-ups subject to change
Monday (Fringe events)
The Sussex Mews
6pm Salt Lick
5.10pm High Vibes
4.20pm Nick Stephens
3.40pm Lauren V
3pm Will Locke
2.20pm Sean Alexander
1.40pm Cecily Patience
1pm Deborah Nightingale
(Free Entry – Donations Encouraged)
Trinity Theatre Gardens
6.45pm The River Flows
5.50pm Coney Island Maybe
4.55pm Krow Tao
4pm James Hodder
3.10pm Red Green & Blue
2.20pm Steve Hewitt
1.40pm Erika Olson
1pm Richard Murison
(free entry – donations encouraged)
Sankey’s Seafood Kitchen & Bar
6pm Charlie Rivers Band
5pm Paul Dunton Orchestra
4.05pm Calico
3.15pm Essie West
2.25pm The Ackerleys
1.40pm Jez Harley
1.00pm Biddle
Highlights from Local & Live 2023!
Credit Nigel Photography.