BurySOUND competitors gear up for grand final at The Apex in Bury St Edmunds

The finalists of a popular music competition are preparing for a chance to be crowned 2023 champions.

After five heats of emerging local talent at The Hunter Club in Bury St Edmunds, Anorak, Blue Feed, Outbound, Ikarus and Millie Kirkpatrick have made it to tonight’s grand final hosted at The Apex with last year's winnners Collars headlining.

This year is BurySOUND’s 25th anniversary and the competition saw more than 75 artists apply which was whittled down to 25 competitors over five heats.

Organiser Tim Willett said: “The heats were attended by a record number of people who turned out to support grassroots music in Bury St Edmunds.

“The standard of acts that have reached the final is incredibly high - the prospect of the final is very exciting.”

Heat one winners are five-piece indie powerhouse Anorak who got the entire audience moving to their infectious bangers.

Ipswich rockers Bluefeed topped the second heat with their distinctive feel-good jangly sound reminiscent of some lovely 00s pop-rock.

Outbound gave an explosive set as the opener in heat three - the band’s energy was fantastic with plenty of luscious guitar solos, yum.

We regretfully missed Ikraus’ winning performance from heat four - however, the group’s track ‘Berlin 75’ has been a particular stand out from the BurySOUND Spotify playlist. I’m really looking forward to hearing this one live.

Our last finalist is the wonderful Millie Kirkpatrick from Sudbury who previously hypnotised audiences with her fantastic acoustic cuts.

You can buy your tickets for tonight’s final by clicking this link or you can pay £5 on the door.

Click below to listen to our BurySOUND 2023 Spotify playlist featuring recent singles and popular tracks from this year’s competitors.

Doors open at 6pm and the first band will be hitting the stage at 6.40pm.

It’s anyone’s game - but who do you think will be crowned champs? Send me your predictions to sam.harrison@iliffepublishing.co.uk.