This article was published in 2008.

Music lovers will get the chance to see some of the finest new bands in the country next month following the announcement of the line-up for Live At Leeds 2008, the now annual event that began last year as part of Leeds’ 800th year celebrations.

Taking place on the weekend of May 3rd / 4th, the Live At Leeds festival will see national names joining the hottest local talent performing at venues around the city centre in a unique celebration of the best in new music.

The line-up includes up-and-coming bands The Sugars, Grammatics, Metronomy, Ipso Facto, Hatcham Social, The Rascals, Last Gang, The Debuts, Middleman, XX Teens, The Dykeenies and The Bacchae amongst many others.

The centrepiece of the festival will be the two sell-out homecoming gigs by The Pigeon Detectives who will be rocking Millennium Square on May 3rd and 4th.

Organised by Futuresound in partnership with Leeds City Council, Leeds Metropolitan University, The Leeds Guide, Leeds College of Music and Marketing Leeds, the festival features bands performing at nine different venues all on the same day.

Saturday May 3rd promises to be the highlight, with nine of the city’s finest music venues all simultaneously showcasing full-day line-ups of new bands.

The venues taking part are The Cockpit, Faversham, Brudenell Social Club, Joseph’s Well, The Wardrobe, The Library, The Packhorse and Trash, with admission to all of them on the day being through a special wristband costing £10 – on sale now at Crash, Jumbo and online through See Tickets.

In addition to the live performances, Live At Leeds will also provide educational seminars and workshops organised by LCM select and Leeds College of Music to help new bands and anyone interested break into the industry.

LCMselect is the professional development and enterprise agency within Leeds College of Music. On Saturday 3rd May they have put together a panel of local music industry professionals (producers, journalists, performers, labels, managers and promoters) who will be taking a Q&A session on the music industry and also a Demo Doctor session where artists can have their work critiqued in front of an audience.

The 'Local to Leeds' panel are Ali Tant (Dance To The Radio Records), Whiskas (Forward Russia), Bruce Wood (Touchwood Studios), Greg Elliot (Sandman Magazine), Ash Kollakowski (Faversham / Bad Sneakers Records) and Tom Goodhand (Leeds Guide).

This will take place at Leeds College of Music in Room 219 and the event is free. Places must be booked in advance so contact Will Betts on w.betts [ at ] lcm.ac.uk or 0113 222 3515 to book a place.

For demo submissions, send to Will Betts, LCMselect, Leeds College of Music, 3 Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7PD. Demos will be entered on a first come, first served basis and only the first track on the CD will be reviewed.