As some of you will be aware, we are a Community Interest Company, and our aims surround supporting and highlighting the range of live music along the Yorkshire Coast, bringing people together to share the joys that music brings. From time to time, we like to give you an update on what is happening; so, if you want to know more about what’s going on, read on…

The story so far:
Yorkshire Coast Gigs was officially set up as a CIC in 2014; the combination of three music lovers who had met and realised the potential for an online chronicle of our brilliant local music scene. We ran and grew for a few years, but then our lives started to get busy at home and work in ways that meant we need to take a pause, which we did until late 2023, when two of the team had a conversation that ran like this:

Dave: Shall we start running the gig guide again?
Kath: Are you insane?
Dave: Probably. So, are you in?
Kath: Of course.

We slowly started reviewing events and sharing gig dates again, with the occasional interview taking place, before getting a newly revamped website live in 2024, as we built up connections and content.

Our geographical area is – very vaguely – as far north as Saltburn, as far south as Hornsea, with a generous arc inland to encompass Beverley, Pickering, Malton and more. When it comes to larger venues in the surrounding towns and cities, then we will sometimes cover those – on the basis that a Bridlington / Scarborough / Whitby local might well travel a little way to see something in Middlesbrough, Hull, York, Leeds, and so on.

So 2024 saw us attend a wide range of gigs on all sorts of scales, with volunteer reviewers and photographers coming on board, generously giving their time to wow us with their talents and share their passion for music with you, too. Across a wealth of genres, we interviewed, reviewed and photographed a cross section of what our region has to offer. The Yorkshire Coast is a special scene, and we want to share that magic.

Recent Updates:
January might have seemed a smidgeon quieter than normal on the gig front, but we have been busy little bees behind the scenes. The big project on the cards is setting up a comprehensive gig listings guide tailored for the Yorkshire Coast; we know the challenges this involves, we’ve been here before; but we’re older, generally wiser, and the technology is smarter too. So, we are working hard on that for later in the year.

We have also been talking to some potential sponsors, one of whom, Beckview Studios, have already become an actual sponsor, helping us to support things like the cost of running the website; as a Community Interest Company, we are a not-for-profit social enterprise, but we do need funds to support core operations and this is where sponsorship partners come in. We hope to announce a few more in the coming weeks and months; and of course, if you are interested, we offer advertising space on the site in return, so get in touch to talk about available packages.

We also have been working hard at expanding in different ways; one is setting up our ‘Sounding Board’, a discrete panel of folk whose opinions and experience we can call upon for a steer when needed; more brainpower, from people out there on the music industry coalface, like venue owners, producers, music tutors and of course, musicians. We are grateful to the people who have already agreed to be on our panel and have offered us some decisive nuggets of wisdom in recent weeks.

And we had a superbly sociable time over in Bridlington meeting some of the ‘Brid collective’ – players within Bridlington’s thriving scene, who have given us some great insights into what’s happening and upcoming around the town. We’ve been given a number of contacts for locals who are interested in reviewing and photographing gigs in Brid, which means we can cover these in more depth – we’re really looking forward to working more with the scene there. And we got a snoop at the new stage being assembled in the Stirling Castle – the sound system spec is out of this world, and we can’t wait to go see something there!

On top of all that, we squeezed in an interview with the fabulous Beth Pilling, and – would you believe it – got to a few gigs! And as we’ve been spending time marking calendars and checking diaries, we hope to have the YCG team at gigs around and about in the coming weeks. It’s what we love doing, after all. And we know you do, too.

 

Main image: Photographers include: Phoebe Donbavand, Simon Heaton, Milly Warkup, John Hayhurst, Kath Dunn-Mines and David Ruston.