Liverpool Music Icons Tour with Pete Hooton or Keith Mullin (The Farm)

The Liverpool Music Icons Tour kicks off at LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) on Saturday 17 October, and it's a bit different from your usual city walk. Instead of a generic guide, it's led by one of the artists who was actually in the thick of it: either Pete Hooton or Keith Mullin, both from The Farm. They'll be taking you through the 1980s and 90s music scene, telling it from the inside.

The route hits the spots that defined that era—gig venues, recording studios, pubs, and the old hangouts. You'll pass the biggest studio complex outside London and the first UK superclub that changed the face of dance music. There's also the home of Probe Records, which backed the second wave of Liverpool groups throughout the 70s and 80s. One of the main stops is the Ministry Rehearsal Rooms, where Echo and the Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, The Farm, Wah Heat, Black, Flock of Seagulls, and The Pale Fountains all played. Hooton and Mullin fill in the gaps with their own stories and anecdotes, framing the city as one that's kept turning out talent long before and since Beatlemania.

It's kept small—no more than 12 people per walk—so it stays a conversation rather than a lecture. The whole thing wraps up with a personal chat over a complimentary drink at an iconic central Liverpool pub, where you can get your memorabilia signed. It's a good way to see the city's musical map from someone who lived it, rather than just read about it. The tour starts at LIPA, Mount St, Liverpool L1 9HF, on Saturday 17 October.