Kate Gee Band

The Kate Gee Band play The Theatre at the Midlands Arts Centre on Friday 23 October, with special guests joining them on the bill. It's a night of original music, and for a band that's spent its time playing around the city, this one carries a bit of personal weight.

They're a local blues and folk rock outfit, and they describe their work as celebrating live, original music from Moseley and beyond. That's a fair bit of the story in a nutshell: the bluesy, folk-leaning sound they've built, and the local roots they're coming from. The set will be their own material, so you'll be hearing what they've written rather than a run of covers.

There's a specific reason this date matters to them, too. The band has long set its sights on the MAC as a stage, and they've billed the night as a chance to finally tick it off the list. It's one of those things that sounds small until you've been playing the local circuit for a while — the MAC is a bit of a landmark for music in the city, and for a band from just down the road, getting a night there is a proper milestone. Having special guests on the bill means it's a full evening rather than just a single set, so there's more to it than just one band on stage.

The gig is in The Theatre, inside the Midlands Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park, B12 9QH. It starts at 20:30 and runs for about 150 minutes, so it's a good stretch of music that takes you well into the night. If you're coming from across town, it's a Friday evening in the park, and the whole thing is built around a local band finally stepping onto a stage they've had their eye on for a long time.