Burnley Live has numerous goals. To bring more people into the town. To showcase the incredible abundance of musical talent we have. To increase exposure for venues and businesses. To stimulate the local economy.
This year’s event ticked all four boxes. And some. It didn’t happen overnight, and growing the event won’t happen by chance either. Burnley Live needs more businesses to lend support, more venues to come aboard, and even more artists to shine.
Burnley deserves a huge, flagship town centre event to rival that of others across the region. And if the views of venue owners and artists following this year’s festival are anything to go by, it’s on the right track:
13. Madge Nawaz and Gaz Ali (Remedy)
'This is only the beginning. Last year, outside Remedy and Mojitos, we had 2,500 people through the gates over two days. This year, we had more than 4,500 people, and for large parts we were having to operate a strict one-in, one-out policy. That shows that we have room to grow. We're already looking ahead to 2025’s event. Ideally, we want more businesses to get involved, to help sponsor us, so we can put on another stage somewhere else in the town. Imagine if we could get 10,000, even 20,000 people coming out next year.' Photo: Andy Ford
14. Wez Evans (Soul Gravy)
'This area is so great for talent and musicians, and it's great to see so much of that in one place. Events like Burnley Live are massively important because life is hard, life is stressful; there's so much stuff going on nowadays, but days like this, when everyone's together having fun and letting loose, it gives us a chance to forget about all that.' Photo: Andy Ford
15. Shannon Manning and Liam Whittaker (The Big Window)
'We loved every minute of it. And so did our punters. The atmosphere was something else. Everyone dancing and singing; we need more town centre events like this.' Photo: Photographer
16. Three Phase
'It was an honour for us to be chosen to perform at Burnley Live again after our performance last year. Burnley is such an important town for us as a band. It has always supported local musicians who have some incredible talent and are able to play at some brilliant venues. Hopefully we can all make Burnley Live 2025 bigger as events like these give the community a positive vibe and are fun for everyone.' Photo: Andy Ford