Worcester Music Forum

The Worcester Music Scene suffered a great loss at the start of the year with the unexpected and sad passing of Rob Geraghty from the Kidderminster band Meg. He was a great guy, terrific sense of humor and a truly wonderful songwriter and musician and the fact that he was only 33 years old makes it even more shocking. He will be sadly missed by all who knew, worked and performed with him. Meg played a storming set at The Worcester Music Festival last August and received praise from media and punters alike. There is to be a special tribute gig at The Marrs Bar to celebrate his life and work on Saturday 7th February with the likes of AWWBLOT, Cobweb Dilemmas and many other acts taking to the stage to show their respects.

The credit crunch is hitting a lot of people hard, and if you feeling the pinch and your belt is getting tight you can still treat yourself get your fix of live music. The Jamming Nights (every Wednesday) and Gwyn Astons Open Mic night (first Sunday of the month) at the Marrs Bar are free entry as are the regular Thursday night band nights where, in February, you can see some great bands such as The Souls, The Dastards and The Irony. The Bedwardine in St Johns has regular Friday and Saturday live gigs with the crème of local bands and performers. In February you can see the marvelously talented duo Harlem Dandy amongst many others.

Flo Rowlands 'Get The Pluck Up' monthly acoustic gig at The Firefly is a must if you want to see some of the best singer songwriters that Worcester has to offer, and also get down the Cellar Bar for the legendary 1147am club (1st Tuesday). Two great monthly showcases of local singer/songwriters and musicians. Also at the Cellar Bar is Worcesters' regular helping of Blues, with Bob Jones (3rd Tuesday of the month) and an impressive list of guest artists such as Babajack, Paul Jeffery, Black Cat Bone, Slidin' Steve and a many more. And, yes, they're all free entry.

The increasingly talented Jules Benjamin continues to do his terrific live show every Thursday at Keystones, playing guitar, keyboards, harmonica and performing a whole heap of great tunes every week. He is often joined by various special guest artists each week like the awesome Pippa Jennings and Mark Viveash and it doesn't cost a penny to get in.

Keystones is also free entry before 8.30 on Saturdays where you can witness some terrific live music including Woody and The Stunt****s, The Underdogs, The Ron Jeremy Band and The Collective Soul Band. The same deal goes at Drummonds on a Friday night where you can see local legends Come Together and The Beatless spin off The Badgers. Free entry before 8.30 and even after that it's only a couple of quid.

Slightly outside Worcester you have free live music in Kidderminster where Joe and The iDLE Hands crew take over the Tap House for some local and regional bands. Some great bands play there recently like The Zebady rays, Anomalies, Rupert and The Robbers and The Situationists. They also have a regular open mic acoustic night on Tuesdays. The lamb in Malvern continues to but on free live music gigs, as does The Northwick in Worcester.

The Horn and Trumpet are planning to return to the music scene with some terrific live bands and then there is the monthly Llama Lounge at The Angel Centre (next to tramps). This is quite a unique event with acoustic singer songwriters, live bands, comedians and more. Again, its free entry, but they do ask that you contribute a quid to help pay for the room hire and then the rest goes to charity. It is normally on the third Saturday of the month, but check the Not Just Sauce website for updates on not just this but for info on what is going on in the Worcester area,

So, despite the crunch, you can still check out some great live music for free ... and on the 21st to 23rd August weekend there is even more live music at the 2nd Worcester Music Festival ... sorry, I just had to mention that. I just realized that I went a full 650 words without mentioning the festival .. what was I thinking?

For more info checkout www.notjustsauce.co.uk