Joe GallopThe Fanatics Group is to relaunch Music Live, an indoor event for beginner and expert music makers at NEC Birmingham, 14 years after the last edition took place.
Taking place from 3-5 November, the event is the brainchild of Fanatics Group director Clive Morton, former Informa Exhibitions VP development Jamie Graham and Danny Oates, formerly of Warner Bros and Universal.
The event previously held nine editions at the NEC, with the last taking place in 2009. Morton said the venue was chosen again to make the event feel like an indoor music festival. In previous years the event had hosted around 25,000 people, but Morton said he is expecting 10,000-12,000 this year.
Morton said the impact of lockdown, where many people picked up music-making at home, inspired the return of the event. He describes Music Live as having the energy of a live music festival, with the “creative amalgamation of performance and spoken word”.
The event will host music tech’s latest offerings, brands, signings, immersive experiences and workshops. It will host a series of concerts, feature areas hosted by podcasters and an education day on the opening Friday.
“Our commitment is to get people picking up guitars and other musical instruments again,” said Morton. “There’s a lot of talent out there, we just need to get behind it.”