Throughout the course of the academic year, the Students’ Union hosts a wide variety of events like jam sessions, open mic nights, live bands, genre specific events and more. I’m going to talk you through just some of these events, how they work and how you can get involved.

Jam Nights

Once a month, the SU hosts a Jam Night in The Venue at BNU. This is an opportunity for people to get performance experience, production experience, time as a band to practice with a safe audience, or just for some karaoke! To perform at the Jam Night, you have to sign up with the team that organises it, if you sign up you’ll be in the first half of the performers, however later on in the evening, if there is still time, it becomes an open mic.

Open Mic Nights (music and comedy)

So, these are slightly different to Jam Nights, as Jam Nights are primarily aimed at music students (but open to all), Open Mic Nights are a place for both students and non-students to get on stage, sing badly and enjoy themselves. Open Mic Nights don’t happen every month like Jam Nights do, but they are still a semi-regular occurrence on the SU calendar.

Live bands and genre-specific nights

Two of the other main events they hold at the Students’ Union are live bands and genre-specific nights. Throughout the year, live bands of both students and non-students play an entire set at the SU. During students' time at BNU, bands are formed with friends, and so this is a great chance and place to play their first official set, or to gain some stage experience in a safe place. Across my time here, there has been many amazing student bands, but also some famous bands - last year we welcomed Scouting for Girls. On top of this, we have genre-specific nights throughout the weeks, from pop, to rock and so much more, these tend to be run by DJ’s and live bands.

I hope this gives a good insight into some of the live music events that take place at BNU’s Students’ Union. If you have any more questions about this, contact the Ambassador team.