Future Yard, Birkenhead’s pioneering community venue, has shared launch details including the first batch of artists from the inaugural Autumn/Winter Programme of the new 600-capacity crowdfunded live venue set to open its doors before the end of the year.
The new venue and adjoining purpose-built studio complex are set to supercharge Future Yard’s impact across Birkenhead and beyond, with the capacity to deliver upwards of 50 additional Future Yard shows per year, including at least 150 additional performance opportunities for local artists within the live room.
The project will also see 2,000 extra hours of practical experience for Sound Check trainees and space for 3,500 children a year to access Future Yard’s new School’s Music Curriculum in the 12 acoustically treated mixed-use studio and teaching spaces that connect the new venue to Future Yard’s existing live space.
The entire complex has been designed in line with the seven principles of universal design, with accessibility embedded in the architecture. Erected on the venue’s former garden space, the new space also conforms to Future Yard’s ambitious sustainability aims and is core to the organisation’s commitment to achieving operation net zero by 2030, positioning Future Yard as one of the first in the UK to reach that milestone.
Designed as a low-energy space featuring a bespoke sustainable heat recovery system, the new complex is a forward-thinking, future-facing cultural building designed to serve, support and sustain generations of creativity to come.
Leading the inaugural Autumn/Winter programme announcement are Mercury Prize shortlisted Scottish multi-instrumentalist corto.alto, who will return to Future Yard in November after a sold-out show earlier this year; Detroit hip hop icon Xzibit; critically acclaimed experimental art-rock quintet Squid; Brit Award-winning synth pop singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone; Belfast-born instrumental post rock titans And So I Watch You From Afar; Liverpool’s own doom metal stalwarts Conan; New York City art-rockers BODEGA; a rare Q&A with inimitable author Irvine Welsh as part of BBC 6Music DJ Chris Hawkins’ Q&A Sides series as well as the 2026 installment of ongoing KLF/The K Foundation/K2 Plant Hire project Birkenhead Day of the Dead, with much more still to come.
Established in 2020, Future Yard was immediately celebrated as the town’s first dedicated live music venue. Since then, the original 280-capacity space, artist rehearsal rooms and mixed-use spaces have become the beating heart of Wirral’s creative community, bringing exciting new national and international artists to the region, often for the first time, and providing critical early opportunities for a hotbed of emerging local talent.
Today’s new lineup announcement joins an already exciting season of shows taking place in Future Yard this year that includes the likes of Lime Garden, Ibibio Sound Machine, Knats, The James Taylor Quartet, African Head Charge, James Lavelle, Dinosaur Pile-Up, Yumi and The Weather, Lagos Thugs, Cheekface, GNOD and many, many more.
With Birkenhead recently shortlisted as the only North West town in the very first UK Town of Culture initiative, which will see the winning town receive £3m in 2028, Future Yard’s forward-thinking, community-first approach to music and creativity is a rare story of growth amid uncertainty in the country’s grassroots music sector.
For more information on the series please visit: https://futureyard.org.
Christopher Torpey, Co-founder Future Yard CIC said, “It feels like a real step up for Future Yard to be hosting artists of this calibre at our home in Birkenhead – our expanded home, which is being built with the support of our incredible fans and backers.
“It’s really important for the town, too, to see Birkenhead appearing on tour listings of this magnitude and welcoming musicians from across the world to our home, especially at a moment when opportunities are scarce and times are tough.
“We genuinely can’t wait to invite people inside for a show, share in the excitement and experience this hopeful new direction for the town. The Future is Birkenhead!”
The steelwork of the new venue. Credit: Birkenhead News
Future Yard Autumn/Winter Programme:
04.09 – DJ Yoda’s 90’s Mixtape
05.09 – Pleasure Island
09.09 – Ak’chamel
10.09 – steel. EP Launch
11.09 – Birkenhead Calling III
12.09 – Martha
17.09 – Connor Selby
18.09 – Smoove & Turrell
20.09 – Trial Tapes + Little Furry Things
25.09 – Rebel Dread Rockers (Don Letts + Andy Smith)
26.09 – The Bends
02.10 – Katy Hurt + Two Ways Home
03.10 – James Lavelle
09.10 – Lime Garden (sold-out)
10.10 – Ibibio Sound Machine
11.10 – Everything Yes
19.10 – Iguana Death Cult
20.10 – Yumi and The Weather
22.10 – Lagos Thugs
23.10 – Annie-Claude Deschênes with THE DSM IV
24.10 – Grandmaster Flash
25.10 – Squid
29.10 – Saigon Soul Revival
31.10 – Breakthrough Festival
04.11 – Mae Stephens
07.11 – African Head Charge
10.11 – ĠENN
13.11 – Mike Viola
14.11 – GNOD
18.11 – corto.alto
20.11 – Cheekface
21.11 – Knats
21.11 – Birkenhead Day of The Dead
26.11 – Dylan LeBlanc
27.11 – Omega Nebula
27.11 – BODEGA
29.11 – Cowboyy
03.12 – And So I Watch You From Afar
11.12 – Irvine Welsh
12.12 – The Cheap Thrills
18.12 – Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band
22.01 – Holly Humberstone
06.02 – James Taylor Quartet
16.02 – Obie Trice
18.03 – Roaslie Cunningham
25.03 – Orchestra Baobab
27.03 – Dinosaur Pile-Up
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