Supergrass bassist Mick Quinn's DB Band opens the Museum of Oxford's basement gigs on 2 October. Five evenings run to December, with tickets from £8 to £12.
Supergrass bassist Mick Quinn will play a stripped-back set in the basement of the Museum of Oxford on Friday 2 October. His DB Band opens Sounds of the City: LIVE, a run of gigs, talks, walking tours and a film night that lasts until December.
Oxford City Council announced the programme on 24 September. It grows out of the museum’s Sounds of the City exhibition, which opened in July. The exhibition covers the bands, gigs, grassroots venues, festivals and independent labels behind the Oxford sound. It stays open at the museum in Oxford Town Hall until 13 March 2027.
The exhibition and the events are funded by Arts Council England, the council says.
The evening gigs
Five evenings are ticketed through the museum. Each one includes entry to the galleries and the exhibition, and doors open half an hour before the music. The museum sells every one on a sliding scale: £8 to pay less, £10 standard, £12 to pay more, according to its event listings.
| Date | Event | Who is playing | Doors, start |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 2 October | Live & Local | Mick Quinn’s DB Band; Emma Hunter | 6.30pm, 7pm |
| Sat 17 October | Beats, Rhythms & Rhymes | Spoken word, poetry and song for Black History Month, with Unlock the Chains Collective | 6.30pm, 7pm |
| Fri 30 October | Sounds from the Basement | Mount St. Helen (solo); Dolly Mavies | 6.30pm, 7pm |
| Fri 6 November | Afterhours Acoustics | Premium Leisure (solo); Robin Bennett & friends | 6.30pm, 7pm |
| Fri 11 December | Oxford’s Sounds: Reimagined | Songs built from field recordings of the city, with Cities and Memory | 6pm, 6.30pm |
The DB Band is Quinn on guitar with Paul Wilson, Dec McCarthy and Chris Caddick. The museum says Quinn, McCarthy and Caddick were in an early school band together. Emma Hunter is an Oxford-based experimental singer-songwriter.
Robin Bennett, on 6 November, is one of the original founders of Truck Festival, according to the museum’s listing.
The 17 October line-up is:
- Fimber Bravo, steel pan
- Jali Fily Cissokho, kora and voice
- Euton Daley and Amantha Edmead of Unlock the Chains Collective
- Asher AJ Dust, singer, songwriter and poet
- Kemastry and Rawz, hip-hop and spoken word
The film, the tours and the talks
Anyone Can Play Guitar is screened on Saturday 24 October, from 5pm to 8pm. Jon Spira’s documentary on the Oxford scene is narrated by Stewart Lee. It features interviews with Radiohead, Foals, Supergrass, Ride and Swervedriver. Spira then talks to Dave Gilyeat of BBC Radio Oxford. The Ultimate Picture Palace presents it with the museum. The listing gives no ticket price, so check when you book.
Two walking tours of lost and living music venues each run twice. Both cost £15, cover about 1.5 miles and are recommended for over-16s. Local historian Maurice East leads them.
- City centre and Jericho, Saturdays 3 and 10 October, 11am to 1pm. It starts at the museum and ends at the Jericho Tavern on Walton Street.
- St Clements and Cowley Road, Sundays 4 and 11 October, 11am to 12.30pm. It starts at the Oranges & Lemons on St Clements Street and ends at The Regal on Cowley Road.
A lunchtime talk on 14 October, Growing the grass roots, covers live music in Oxford in the 1970s. Chris Church ran gigs at Oxford Polytechnic in that decade. Tickets are £6 and include gallery entry.
For families, Little Sounds of the City on Monday 21 December is a songwriting workshop with Oli Steadman of Stornoway. It is for ages 5 to 11, at 11am or 2pm. Tickets are £6 a child, with one adult free.
The council’s list also includes a Mount St. Helen performance at Modern Art Oxford’s Open Call preview party on Friday 4 December.
What it means for you
- The first gig is this Friday, 2 October. Book through the museum’s events page or at the museum shop.
- Pick your price. The £8, £10 and £12 tickets are for the same seat. The museum leaves the choice to you.
- You can see the exhibition free on set days. The museum lists free entry days on 28 October, 14 November and 23 December, but they must be booked in advance.
- Step-free access is by the Town Hall entrance nearest Carfax Tower. A platform lift and a lift reach the galleries and the basement, the museum says.
- Walking tours are 16+. The venue stops may involve stairs, so email museum@oxford.gov.uk about access before booking.
For more going on in the city this autumn, see things to do in Oxford.
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