Wild Paths – a multi-venue music festival spread across Norwich showcasing the best emerging bands and artists in a variety of venues and pop-up stages, hosting discussions with key figures from the music industry and afterparty events featuring renowned DJs, live electronic acts and our late night jazz jam in a church!
Wild Paths returns to Norwich this October, presenting 5 days of the hottest new bands and artists spread across 15 renowned venues and pop-up spaces in the city. With a ‘Best New Festival’ award under their belts the Wild Paths team are back at it, inviting globally-renowned artists to perform alongside the best and brightest local talent and pairing it all with industry panels, afterparties, pop-up bars and food trucks. Grab your festival pass from the box office at The Maids Head Hotel and set off across the city, dropping into venues to grab a drink and catch some stand-out live performances, spanning genres from indie, folk, neo-soul and jazz to psych, post-punk, disco and loads more. Venues this year include everything from record stores, basements and cafes to an Octagon Chapel, a micro-brewery, a secret cocktail den and a skate park in a church.
Spotlight events also include a very special screening of a full visual album accompanied by a live band in Cinema City (keep an eye on the socials for more info) and some intimate acoustic performances below street level – more news coming soon.
The festival conferences return again this year, spread over 2 days and providing a great opportunity to network with national booking agents, label reps and other music industry types – head to the Minstrel Rooms at The Maids Head Hotel on the Thursday and Friday from around 11am till late afternoon.
Run by a local collective of promoters, designers and musicians, Wild Paths embodies the fervent independent spirit of Norwich and its creative community. Now in its 6th year the festival has become a staple part of the regional (and national) festival calendar, perfect for discovering new talent and catching intimate sets from the Glastonbury headliners of tomorrow!
Starting from only £45 + BF for a Festival Pass (3 days) and £30 + BF for a Day Pass it’s an absolute bargain!
There’s also a couple of opening party shows at Voodoo Daddy’s to wet your festival whistle – starting at just £10 – and after-parties at Space and Gonzos for the price of a pint!
The Wild Paths project has been made possible by support from Arts Council England, as well as a host of other partners and benefactors. The funding we’ve received from the Arts Council has allowed us to provide opportunities to a multitude of music and event students, those in their early-career phase and more established industry professionals. It’s helped us to develop and nurture a regional scene and allowed us to be daring and progressive when booking festival artists.
Artists
Spanning every genre, this year’s line-up includes a ton of exciting new acts, from the smooth soulful jazz-tinged sounds of South Londoner BINA. to Brighton’s Lime Garden and their unique brand of ‘wonk pop’, blending disco with surf-rock and melodic post-punk. Joining these two Wild Paths returnees is multi-instrumentalist Quinn Oulton whose sound skips between intricate jazz arrangements and catchy RnB. Quinn’s live set is a showcase of his unbridled talent, from an artist who’s also played and produced for a number of other notable acts in the jazz/soul scene.
One of 2025’s must see acts Bristol’s Getdown Services join the first wave, with their danceable grooves and astute, hilarious put-downs of modern Britain – not to be missed! For those that like a faceful of brass with their post-punk O. blend ferocious baritone sax with some very adept drum work while Y (spawned from members of Fat White Family and Pregoblin) deliver unpredictable, sharp-edged riffs and a unique brand of jazzy wonk rock.
This year we’ve turned up the dial to 11 and invited a selection of heavier bands to play a skatepark in a church! Local heroes Other Half are joined by the queercore, savage punk sounds of Shooting Daggers and innovative Bristol band Knives.
“…over 35% of the line-up is homegrown talent from East Anglia.”
However, if you’re after a more folk-tinged, slightly softer sound then head to the Octagon Chapel for Brown Horse. Norwich’s own six-piece make guitar-driven 90s alt-rock with the folk and country sounds of the 70s. You’d also better make sure you catch Olive Jones, a London-based singer, songwriter, Olive draws on soul, blues and alt-folk to produce her sumptuous melody driven music.
Fresh off the back of a very successful Great Escape Festival, Picture Parlour join the line-up and welcome you into a world of neon-lit escapism, where the lost and restless find sanctuary in raw, electrifying rock ‘n’ roll.
We’ve also announced our first after-party with Donna Leake – a mainstay of Brilliant Corners and NTS Donna draws sounds from all over the globe and all over the clock including jazz, reggae and psych.
Now it just wouldn’t be Wild Paths without a couple of late-night jazz jams in a medieval church! Head to St Laurence at the top of St Benedict’s Street to catch the Voodoos Jazz Club band and a host of special guests playing deep into the night on Friday and make sure you’re back there Saturday night when we invite are all female + non-binary hosts Peng Femme Jam up from London to curate an amazing night of improv, free jazz, soul, disco and dancing!
There’s something for every palette here and we’ve still got more to announce! So jump in now and grab a pass while they’re super cheap!
Wild Paths is an international affair and this year we’ve invited bands, DJs and delegates from across the globe including acts from Canada, France, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, Scotland and more – plus over 35% of the line-up is homegrown talent from East Anglia – it’s always been important to us to platform our local artists and show the world what we’ve got going on!
Come join us for a city-wide celebration of music, culture and community.
