Live Music in Harrogate

A spa town with a 60-year classical music festival to its name, Harrogate has built a live music reputation that runs considerably deeper than its genteel image suggests. The HACS Harrogate Music Festival has drawn artists of the calibre of Jacqueline du Pré, Sir Simon Rattle, and Dame Janet Baker, while the Wesley Centre, regarded by many as the Wigmore Hall of the North, sustains that classical tradition through international recitals. On the other end of the spectrum, the Blues Bar delivers live music every evening, and venues like the den, Montey's, and Mojo keep rock and indie well represented. The town has also shaped some notable careers: Marc Almond of Soft Cell, Olly Alexander of Years and Years, and Utah Saints all have roots here, the latter duo having met as DJs at a Harrogate nightclub before achieving global recognition.