An annual music festival that connects music lovers with local venues across the city is returning to London this fall.

VENUExVENUE will be taking place between Nov. 14 to 16, and will feature over 50 Ontario artists at seven iconic venues across the city. If you’ve never been to this multi-day music festival you can expect to see attendees hopping from “venue to venue,” which is how the name came about. Music artists such as Anddre & The Reflections, Asante, Bella Rosa, The Jailbirds, Maybe May, Ransom Child, and many others will be performing at the event. Early bird wrist bands are 40 per cent off until Sept. 17, with the regular price costing $49.99.

Bringing VENUExVENUE to London made perfect sense, according to Indie Week founder, Darryl Hurs. In 2019, Indie Week hosted 240 acts from 30 countries in 24 venues in Toronto. But in the aftermath of COVID-19, the festival faced barriers related to construction and transit issues. After meeting with Cory Crossman of the London Music Office, and Natalie Wakabayashi from Tourism London, Hurs was inspired to bring VENUExVENUE to London.

“The idea came right away—why don’t we build an international music festival for a city of music?” Hurs said. “It just made sense, everything pointed to London.”

The magic behind VENUExVENUE is the wristband that allows patrons entry to all venues. One wristband gives you access to every venue, every night, and every act. In addition to the music, the festival also celebrates community, a vibrant atmosphere, the supporting of local venues, and more.

“We saw it last year where people were running into each other on the street asking what bands they plan to see and asking each other where they were going,” Hurs said. “People will end up making new friends, become new fans of acts they just discovered, but most importantly they will create a memory of being a part of something special.”

Narrowing down which artists to have at this years’ event was no easy task, especially with the number of applications that were received. According to Hurs, it can be quite the process of narrowing down the applicants in terms of choosing a line up for the event. This year there were over 300 applicants for VENUExVENUE and out of that 300 only 65-70 artists will be performing.

“We try to maintain a balance of the genres so that we can represent and host multiple genres, but it also depends on who applied,” Hurs said.

Grab your friends and make this festival a part of your college or university journey. This will be one of those events to remember, bouncing from one venue to another to hear great music. Don’t forget that early bird tickets are only available until Sept. 17 and can be purchased on the VENUExVENUE website.