Blossoms perform secret gig at Salford City College for BBC Introducing

As part of the BBC Introducing series, Blossoms performed a secret intimate gig at Salford City College’s FutureSkills (based at @MediaCityUK) which was open to Creative Media and Music students.

Blossoms are an English indie pop band from Stockport in Greater Manchester and have the best-selling debut album of 2016. Their music has been described as psych-pop with a 60’s edge, drawn from a variety of musical influences including The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys and Oasis.

The evening started with a live Q&A with Tom Ogden (lead singer) and Joe Donovan (drums) who were interviewed by BBC Radio Manchester’s Natalie-Eve Williams and Michelle Hussey. This was broadcast live on the BBC Radio Manchester Facebook page and fans sent in their questions from all over the world – as far as South America and Australia. The band then performed six of the songs off their album including their biggest hits, Charlemagne, Blown Rose and Honey Sweet.

The band are a great inspiration to Salford City College Creative Music students and are relatable to those who want to make it in this industry. The Stockport band who formed in 2013 are another example of the talent to come out of Manchester. Tom Ogden said he had gone from working in a hotel to touring all over the world and said, “We just want to grab it and run with it.”

David Gate, Creative Music tutor at Salford City College said, “This project was all thanks to a partnership between Salford City College, National Skills Academy and Creative & Cultural Skills. This is the biggest event we’ve ever had at FutureSkills and it was an honour to have Blossoms perform here. We have the perfect gig venue here at FutureSkills, so we’re now looking forward to hosting more of the same in 2017.”

Michelle Hussey, BBC Radio Manchester presenter said, “We have FutureSkills right on our doorstep here at Media City and we were able to get Blossoms into a full band live set up. We usually do our intimate acoustic sessions in our studio which are wonderful and we’re going to continue to do so, but now we’ve got access to this really great studio environment for a live audience.”

The exclusive gig was recorded for BBC Radio Manchester. Creative Media students from Salford City College’s FutureSkills also filmed the interview and gig which they editing together to go out the Salford City College YouTube channel..