Free live music in five Top of the Town venues from 2pm on Saturday 26 September, no tickets needed. Every act at every venue, plus where to park.

Free live music comes back to the top of Basingstoke town centre on Saturday 26 September. Listen Up runs from 2pm across five pubs, bars and clubs. There will also be street performers on London Street. There are no tickets and nothing to book. (Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, news release 10792, 8 September 2026)

This is the fifth Listen Up. Love Basingstoke organises it and the borough council pays for it. Two local promoters, RB Music and Jazz and Beyond Basingstoke, are booking the acts. The council’s release promises rock, acoustic, jazz, funk, soul and metal.

The organiser has now published the line-up for every venue: 26 named acts. (Love Basingstoke, Listen Up)

Who is playing where

Acts are listed as the organiser spells them. No set times have been published yet.

From 2pm

Venue Address Style Acts
The Royal Exchange 20-22 London Street, RG21 7NY Guitar bands Buds., Hell Hotel, A.S.H.E.S, Our Fate, Blank Xpression, Common Tongue, Domesday, Marley Garrard
Laarsen’s 5-7 Wote Street, RG21 7NE Acoustic Joe McCorriston, The Two Ton Shoes, Shell the Alt Folkie, Sywren, Rick Hales, Ash Fuentes, Kalopsia, Aiofe Wall
The Wote Street Club 2 Seal Road, RG21 7NG “Rich folk songs and heavy improvised grooves” Oren Marshall, Christos Stylianidies, James Kitchman, Hare’s Lullaby, Alice & Olly, Jason Kikby, Corrie Dick
London Street RG21 7NU, outdoors Street performances celebrating the Basingstoke Music and Arts Festival Not named

Into the evening

Venue Address Acts
The Tea Bar 9 London Road, RG21 7NT Sound Intentions
The White Hart London Road, RG21 4AE The Outakes, The Bluepers

The organiser’s own listing runs the day to 9pm.

Why the council pays for it

The council says Listen Up is part of a push for more live music and culture at the Top of the Town, the older end of the centre around London Street and Wote Street.

“Listen Up has become a fantastic showcase for the wealth of musical talent we have in and around Basingstoke and I am delighted to see it return for a fifth time,” said Councillor Kerry Morrow, the Cabinet Member for Sports, Leisure and Culture.

She said the day also “supports town centre businesses” and gives artists “a valuable opportunity to reach new audiences”.

Getting there

Love Basingstoke names three car parks as the closest to the Top of the Town: Joices Yard, Central and Castons Yard. The council’s charges for those three:

  • Castons Yard is short stay. The first hour is free if you take a ticket from the machine, which you cannot do through RingGo. It then costs £2.50 up to two hours, £3.50 up to three and £4.70 up to four.
  • Central and Joices Yard charge £1.40 for the first hour, then follow the same scale.

(Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, car parking charges) Staying all afternoon and into the evening pushes you past four hours, so a long-stay car park may work out cheaper. All the options are on our parking in Basingstoke page.

Love Basingstoke says the train and bus stations are both within walking distance. South Western Railway has no engineering work planned for Saturday 26 September. The line to Reading does close the next day.

What it means for you

  • Just turn up. It is free and unticketed at every venue, from 2pm.
  • Under 18s must be with an adult. The organiser and the council both say so.
  • Pick your venue by style. Guitar bands are at the Royal Exchange, acoustic acts at Laarsen’s, and folk and improvised music at the Wote Street Club.
  • Stay late on London Road. The Tea Bar and the White Hart carry the music on into the evening.

For other things on in the borough this autumn, see things to do in Basingstoke.

Sources