This Feeling By The Sea Festival hailed the UK’s best grassroots music event
2nd September 2024Quickly becoming one of the highlights of the summer festival circuit, This Feeling By The Sea is a triumph of the tastemaking rock ‘n’ roll champions’ phenomenal support for the UK’s grassroots live music scene. Every single artist on the line-up has come through with the help of This Feeling’s support, often landing their first proper gig with small local club shows in their hometowns.
And look at what all of these artists have achieved. This Feeling By The Sea’s headliners have both scaled new peaks this year which set them up for arena-ready futures, with The Royston Club’s current single ‘The Patch Where Nothing Grows’ accelerating the success achieved with their Top 20 debut album, and The K’s shooting into the album charts at #3 with their debut record earlier this year. The likes of Seb Lowe, Pastel, The Clause and The Rosadocs are all primed to reach a similar level, while the rest of the bill is packed wall-to-wall with next up contenders.
This Feeling’s passion for grassroots can be underlined by the statistics. Each year they host a total of 300 shows in 70 grassroots venues, covering 40 cities and towns across the UK – and not just the big cities, but also in smaller towns where there’s often little or nothing else on offer in terms of live music. 220 of those events are club shows, often with a popular local band playing their first big headline show, with support coming from a selection of promising unknown artists having their first opportunity to play to a proper crowd. They also present another 80 headline shows a year at venues with capacities going all the way from 100 to 2500 people. Over the course of a year, This Feeling’s grassroots gigs host a total of 1000+ artists, performing in front of a combined audience of 40,000 fans.
This Feeling is also a platform that offers rare meritocracy in the music industry. If a local band impresses as support at a club show, they’ll have the potential to later headline that same venue. If their headline show goes off, they have every chance of featuring at one of This Feeling’s curated festival stages at the likes of the Isle of Wight, Truck, and Y NOT?. And the wider This Feeling community opens up so many more opportunities for fans, fellow bands, influential DJs, media, and more. This Feeling By The Sea also runs an Apply To Play scheme, which gives two unknown bands the chance to perform at the festival, judged by renowned DJs John Kennedy (Radio X) and Jericho Keys (BBC Introducing).
Noel Gallagher, Carl Barât, and Serge Pizzorno are all famous admirers of This Feeling, and their support is matched with a fresh wave of enthusiasm as By The Sea approaches:
“This Feeling brings massive passion and expertise to the grassroots sector, supporting countless artists right at the start when it matters most and filling venues all over the UK. They’ve booked household names such as Gerry Cinnamon, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Blossoms, and many more, way before they achieved mainstream success, so if you’re out to find the next big band, get down This Feeling!” – Mark Davyd, CEO, Music Venue Trust.
“We’re buzzing to play By The Sea this year. This Feeling promoted one of our first ever shows at a small venue in Rhyl, North Wales, so it’s a nice moment to go from that to headlining By The Sea.” – Tom Faithfull, vocalist/guitarist for The Royston Club.
“It’s an honour to be asked to headline This Feeling By The Sea. We started out with This Feeling doing our first gigs on the circuit and to now be headlining their festival is class.” – Ryan Breslin, guitarist for The K’s.
“From little acorns grow great oaks, but on that journey they need to be nurtured and looked after – without doubt, when it comes to the Red Rum Club story, it was and has always been THIS FEELING as THE first promoter to believe in the band in those ‘acorn’ days, that made this possible and were, and still are, there to continue to nurture and help the band grow. I therefore cannot thank This Feeling enough and long may our relationship last!” George Wilson, manager of Red Rum Club, By The Sea’s 2023 headliners who recently secured their first Top 10 album.
Today also brings details of This Feeling By The Sea’s acoustic stage. Friday headliner Finn Forster has a huge future ahead of him, earning comparisons to Paulo Nutini and landing a deal with Ed Sheeran’s agent. That day will also highlight sets from Sunbeam and Beth Pilling. And Saturday’s bill will be topped by The Serotones, who recently made a big impression as openers at Shed Seven’s special 30th-anniversary show at York Museum Gardens. Saturday’s line-up also introduces Frankie Dobson and Mae Armstrong.
Limited remaining tickets for This Feeling By The Sea are available HERE, priced at £60 for the weekend, £35 for day tickets, and £10 for those under the age of 12.
