Ashley Dawes to play Live and Unsigned National Final at the O2!

Ashley Dawes is to play Live and Unsigned National Final at the O2! After battling it out in live heats across the country and beating 10,000 acts who entered the music competition, Ashley from Ruislip is now going to be playing at Live Fest London’s largest indoor Festival on 23rd July!


Grand Finalists will be performing at the Indigo2 being one of the main stages of the Live Fest Festival, which will see over 8,000 festival goers enjoy some of the hottest acts from the UK music scene performing, as well as all the best unsigned acts from across the country. The biggest names in the industry have been Judging the competition this year with their eye firmly on who will they believe will be the UK’s best Live and unsigned act 2011. Judges amongst many include Radio 1’s; legendary Annie Nightingale, Ras Kwame, Tom Deacon and Daniel P Carter.


Live Fest headliners are set to include live performances and DJ sets from N-Dubz, The Hoosiers, Tinchy Stryder, Roll Deep, The Guillemots, Missing Andy, Funeral for a Friend, Pegasus Bridge and many more are yet to be confirmed. Grand finalists will not only get to play at the Grand Final for the chance to be named Best Live and Unsigned act 2011, but will also get to see some of the biggest acts in the UK perform and be part of London’s largest indoor festival.

After initially auditioning against thousands of other acts across the UK and impressing the judging panel with their originality, the acts will now be battling it out at the Grand Final. Not only will they be performing on stage at Live Fest, the best live music festival in the world, but there are also plenty of awards up for grabs, with a prize pool worth up to £100,000.


The impressive prize pool includes; Main stage festival slots at a host of festivals including IVYLIVE, K Fest, OsFest, ButserFest, ZFest, Newcastle Green Festival and First Days of freedom festival. Other prizes up for grabs for contestants include studio time, development master classes from The Institute, amplification equipment from Blackstar and TC Electronic and much more.


The winners of the competition will take home an impressive prize package which includes a recording and development contract with Future Music, an all-expenses paid trip to Italy to play at a Tour Music Fest, a slot on the main stage of Sound Check Festival in Melbourne Australia, a festival slot at Canada’s Supernova, front cover features in popular music magazines and press coverage.

Chris Grayston, Events Director of Live & Unsigned commented: “We’re all about originality, live ability and credibility. It’s a fantastic achievement to make it to the Grand Final. Whatever happens it will be a great day for all the acts performing, whether they win or not. Last year half a dozen acts were signed to both label and management companies, after representatives were invited as guests. This marks a great opportunity for finalists being part of Live Fest, London’s biggest indoor festival and playing the same festival as some of biggest act names in the world! I can’t wait to see what the acts have got in store for us at the final it going to be terrific!”


Representing the best of this region’s talent, Ashley is hoping for all the support possible to be crowned the UK’s best Live and Unsigned act.