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Forget Eurovision. It’s the Final Countdown

Posted on Thursday, 22 May 2008 10:57AM by


With a week to go, could Colchester steal the title of ‘Most Musical City’?

After a month of campaigning across ten cities and thousands of votes, Arts Council England’s ‘Take it away’ scheme’s search to find our Most Musical City looks set to go down to the wire. With voting at www.mostmusicalcity.co.uk closing at midnight on Friday 30 May, Colchester fans need to get behind their city.

After a strong start, Colchester spent the first part of the campaign in the middle of the leader board, far above some of the hot favourites. However, with voting falling away in recent weeks, Colchester currently lies in the bottom three but is still placed ahead of some of the bigger names.

Rivals Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield are currently leading the public vote, yet everything is still up for grabs as they are closely followed by Bristol and Brighton and the surprise so far – Leicester.

John Davidson, Head of Performing Arts at Arts Council England, East, said: "The support we've seen for Colchester so far in the campaign has been fantastic and is a testament to the wealth of musical talent in the region. Let's keep voting, keep our music scene thriving and show the other nominated cities how much we have to offer."  

With celebrity ambassadors backing their city’s bids, including London supporter Suggs, Birmingham backer Jamelia, Liverpool fan Jenny Frost and Leicester’s Engelbert Humperdinck, the biggest final push from the public will decide the winner.

Mary-Alice Stack, Development Manager, Arts Council England said: “The response from our celebrity endorsers, city councils, local bands and fans shows how much music means to people in this country. We may not win Eurovision very often, but this is one competition you can help decide – with a week to go, get online and get voting!”

There is also an extra incentive for the leading cities – two young bands or artists, representing the winning city and the runners-up will be chosen by a panel of music industry experts to play to in front of 5,000 people at September’s End of the Road Festival in Dorset. Already over 150 unsigned acts have registered for this exclusive opportunity at www.myspace.com/mostmusicalcity

“Unsigned acts can register right up to midnight on 30 May and the more votes their city gets, the more chance they have of being selected to play at the End of the Road,” Mary-Alice continued. “And even if your city doesn't win, your band could still make it as we'll be choosing a third ‘wild card’ act from all the entries we’ve received to represent the ‘Best of the Rest’ at the festival.”

The winning city and the three bands to play the End of the Road Festival will be announced in June.
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