To capture the sound of our city, we organise and host live events with our partners City Stage, bringing our recording equipment to a venue near you and broadcasting everything that happens.
Below you’ll find some of our upcoming City Stage events. You can also listen back to relive our most recent live music events, recorded on-site at some of the best local venues across Essex.
City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Semi Finals Recap
In this special edition show, Stewart Pink joins Liam AKA “Uncle Pickle” from The Fickle Pickle to recap all the drama and epic performances from the semi finals of the competition, looking back over 3 incredible nights of live music.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Semi Final 3
After two first class performances in their heats, Semi Final 3 sees Addicus take on No Comply as they battle it out for the ultimate prize. PLUS support from Tom Corbyn.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Semi Final 2
After two first class performances in their heats, Semi Final 2 sees The SOS take on Rene Mills as they battle it out for the ultimate prize. PLUS support from Chris Robson.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Semi Final 1
After two first class performances in their heats, Semi Final 1 sees Girls From Moscow take on Lemon & Lime as they battle it out for the ultimate prize. PLUS support from New Again.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Heats Recap
In this special edition show, Stewart Pink joins “Uncle Liam” from The Fickle Pickle to recap all the incredible scenes that unfolded during the first round of the competition, looking back over 6 awesome heats, 18 outstanding live bands and even a chat with some of the regular crowd who’ve been along since week one!
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Heat 6
This heat sees No Comply, Psychographic and Two4Sorrow light up the stage as they bid for the ultimate prize.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Heat 5
This heat sees Park Drive, Eternal Karma and Addicus light up the stage as they bid for the ultimate prize.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Heat 4
This heat sees The Number Twenty, René Mills and Hear My Roar light up the stage as they bid for the ultimate prize.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Heat 3
This heat sees The SOS, Southern Heights and Painting Cars light up the stage as they bid for the ultimate prize.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Heat 2
This heat sees Nearly Dead Kings, Lemon and Lime and Fielding’s Dream Correction light up the stage as they bid for the ultimate prize.
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City Radio LIVE: Battle of The Bands 2025: Heat 1
This heat sees Girls From Moscow, Hot Rats and Driftwood light up the stage as they bid for the ultimate prize.
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Southend City Radio LIVE: Candlelight Christmas Singalong
On Sunday we brought all the magic of our Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour to an epic conclusion for the year with our infamous Christmas Singalong. Featuring our own house band, a few familiar voices, some new ones too and even some rousing festive poetry – this was a night to remember! This is a Christmas singalong like no other and we recorded it exclusively for Southend City Radio LIVE! You can hear it all here…
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Fraser Morgan LIVE in session
On his road to a monumental 1,000 live gigs, Fraser Morgan joins us for a chat and an exclusive LIVE session.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Mawson’s Micro Pub in Southchurch
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we visited Mawson’s Micro Pub in Southchurch. With a packed out bar, we filled the place as almost as much talent as there was beer and enjoyed a fabulous set of live music from some familiar names to the tour alongside some new friends. We also wrapped up the evening with a live set from local band Hear My Roar who featured on Peroni’s People last week when Frankie interviewed the band’s vocalist, Kate West.
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Southend City Radio LIVE in The Ballroom at The Royal Hotel
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we had lots to celebrate. From big birthdays to big wins at The Essex Small Business Awards, Southend City Radio and Candlelight went up a level (literally… to the second floor!) at The Royal Hotel as we lit up The Ballroom with some spellbinding performances.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Isla’s Bar: The Disney Special
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, everyone went back to their youth to share, celebrate and perform some of their favourite songs from Disney films. From forgotten classics to new hits there’s something for and from every age group, some stunning performances, some fantastic singalongs and unforgettable moments.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Ironworks
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we celebrated the birthday of one of our regular rockstars. Saida Bee invited us along to make the Candlelight Acoustic Night part of her birthday fundraiser at The Ironworks. Featuring both familiar and new faces and a wide range of music from solo singer songwriters to bands to musical opera PLUS an entire African drum circle!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Terrace Bar on St Patrick’s Day
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we celebrated St Patrick’s Day in style with the fastest fiddle in the city and more than just a few nods to some Irish musical influences PLUS we’ve a mother & daughter duo, another show stopping performance from the Candlelight kids, an Irish singalong and spoons on every table.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Cobham Hotel on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we returned to our favourite basement in Westcliff at Cobham Hotel. Unlike most basements, it’s complete with a chez-lounge and its own separate bar! We witnessed some beautiful performances from returning musical heroes and some new faces to our open mic tour too.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Cricketers on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we played at a once iconic venue in Westcliff, now newly reopened we had the pleasure of bringing the magic of radio to The Cricketers. With some outstanding artists bringing their own new and original music alongside more new faces to the tour and even a song from our youngest ever performer, this was another fantastic night of live music and we captured all of it right here!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Royal Hotel on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we returned to one of the most iconic buildings in the high street, The Royal Hotel. This time we set up to play beautifully intimate set in the newly refurbished restaurant and it was the perfect backdrop some unforgettable performances. Featuring performers of all ages including a heartwarming return for a local legend and a delightful rendition by the candlelight kids; this week is a mix of covers and some incredible original and unreleased music you’ll only hear on Southend City Radio.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Isla’s Bar on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we descended upon Isla’s Bar on Hamlet Court, Westcliff. With a beautiful atmosphere and under new ownership the scene was set for a fabulous night of live music and the artists did not disappoint! Featuring performances from more newcomers to the tour including a glimpse at some of the local area’s most exciting new and unreleased music from independent artists, it was a great night of entertainment that even included one of our own presenters making a musical debut on Southend City Radio!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Exchange on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour: MOVIE NIGHT
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we brought the magic of Hollywood to The Exchange in Southchurch with our first themed open mic night where we challenged our musicians to play songs from the movies! Before the title scenes had even finished rolling, they were dancing in the aisles and after some blockbuster performances and some Oscar-worthy sets, you’ll be glad we caught it on tape… well… digital!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Terrace Bar on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we rocked The Terrace Bar, 1 Richmond Ave, Southend – just off the high street (behind the old Baker’s Bar) – with some truly unforgettable moments. The winds were almost as high as the notes and none of our candles were as hot as the talent! Featuring three harmoncas, a violin, a two keyboards, several guitars, a saxophone and a blues about Southend and Salvo the clown – this one turned out rather special!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Miley: Candlelight Family Christmas
In this extra special stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, there were some beautiful duets of all ages, a return to stage for local legend, the seaside nutter himself, an unforgettable crowd singalong and we also revealed this year’s Christmas Number One as we announced the winner of the Southend City Radio Christmas Chart.
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Southend City Radio LIVE in The Royal Ballroom at The Royal Hotel: Candlelight Acoustic Night Christmas Singalong
In this extra special stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we brought more cables and instruments than ever with performances from some of our favourite open mic performers PLUS a full drum kit, a brass band and some incredible singalong moments!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Isla’s Bar: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we witnessed an outstanding vocal duet, a little bit of Ziggy sprinkled with stardust, some spellbinding original music, a fantastic crowd singalong and we kept the tapes rolling for the best drum-a-long you’ve ever heard!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Exchange: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour (Round 2)
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we return to The Exchange Pub in Southchurch for another night of musical magic, featuring some first time performers on the tour and even more outstanding improvisation and original music from our local stars and musical heroes.
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Southend City Radio LIVE back at The Mews: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour (Round 2)
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we return to The Mews in Southend for another incredible night of live music, featuring more outstanding improvisation and original music from our local stars and musical heroes.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Mews: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we lit up The Mews in Southend for another awesome night of live music, featuring more incredible improvisation and original music from our local musicians including a long-awaited and wonderful return to the stage.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Mile And A Third: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we rocked up at Mile And A Third in Hamlet Court Road, Westcliff for another incredible night of live music, some more amazing improvisation and original music from some of our brightest local stars.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Cobham Hotel: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we set up camp at Cobham Hotel and witnessed some outstanding performances including a Southend City Radio for Katy B, Kyla and Bradley White plus a fabulous saxophone solo!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Miley: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we set up camp in The Miley, Rochford and witnessed some truly remarkable moments including a spontaneous drum duet featuring two drummers who had never met before they got on stage, a musical jam in which Heidi J Masters improvised her own song lyrics over Mark Hardy’s unplanned, freestyle fretwork on the guitar plus an exclusive debut performance from The Candlelight Kids!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Royal Hotel: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
In this stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we set up camp in The Royal Hotel, 1 Southend High Street and witnessed some fantastic live music including some fantastic collaborations between artists who met each other on our tour!
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Southend City Radio LIVE at Isla’s Bar: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
Last week we embarked on our mission to showcase musical talent and the many awesome venues supporting our local community. This week we continue our quest with the second instalment of Southend City Radio LIVE on our Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour at Isla’s Bar in Westcliff.
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Southend City Radio LIVE at The Exchange: Candlelight Acoustic Night Open Mic Tour
As part of our mission to showcase musical talent and the many awesome venues supporting our local community, Southend City Radio has partnered with Candlelight Acoustic Nights and we’re going on tour! In our first ever live event, and our first stop on the Candlelight Acoustic Night Tour, we set up camp in The Exchange Pub, Southchurch and were treated to an outstanding selection of covers and originals by Emma-Jane Beaumont, Mark Hardy, Kate West, Sam Sheridan & super duper Phil on the drums.
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We’re always looking for new places to host our live events and open mic tour.
Click here if you’d like to see your venue here!
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