Birmingham drum roll for second city status with all that jazz

New research has highlighted how the power of jazz and bIues music has confirmed Birmingham as the UK’s second city versus Manchester.
 

The Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival celebrated its 40th consecutive year in 2024, presenting an impressive 239 performances, 230 of them being free admission in 120 venues.

This dwarfed the Manchester Jazz Festival, which produced just 60 performances in nine venues, with as many as 26 of them paid for.

And remarkably, festival performances and activity in the Westside Business Improvement District (BID), Birmingham's thriving entertainment quarter, was by itself greater than Manchester. Westside presented 63 performances with 62 of them being free admission in 25 venues.

The research by Big Bear Music, the organisers of the Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival, revealed that the total cost for a music lover attending ALL shows would have been a massive £301.50 in Manchester, compared to £121 in Birmingham and a mere £10 on Westside.

The numbers of music fans attending also shone out in Birmingham, with total figures of 87,955 compared to just 23,000 in Manchester.

Jim Simpson, the renowned music promoter who runs Big Bear Music from his offices on Broad Street, said: “While some argue over which is the UK’s second city, these figures show that Birmingham clearly out-performs Manchester as far as jazz and blues is concerned!"

Simpson, most famous for being the first ever manager of Black Sabbath, added: "I'm particularly proud that venues on Westside alone, which is just one of Birmingham's many city quarters, hosted more shows than the whole of Manchester!”

The Birmingham festival was staged from 19 to 28 July, with the Manchester Jazz Festival running from 16 to 25 May.

Pictured: The Tenement Jazz Band at the Waters Edge Bandstand on Brindleyplace