Live and Unheard, the monthly original grass roots music showcase at Lighthouse , hosts its first Original Music Awards takeover on Thursday 25 September with three of this year’s winners.
The bill is headlined by Dorset-based prog rockers Galahad as part of their ongoing 40th anniversary celebrations. Having played their first gig at Somerford Community Centre on 31 August 1985, in their colourful career they have sold tens of thousands of copies of their 12 studio albums as well as a host of live releases, best of sets and offshoot projects despite never having had a major record deal. They served their time on the local circuit and went on to play theatres and festivals across Europe and North America, building up a global fanbase.
“I’m really looking forward to this one – it’s a bit of an off one for us, mainly because we don’t tend to do many things locally,” says singer Stuart Nicholson.
“We were thrilled to be given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the OMAs and I’ve known Matt and Len who organise it for years. They’ve wanted us to do a show for a long time – so here we are.”
Unsurprisingly, it’s not the first time Galahad have appeared at Lighthouse – in the late 1990s they played a charity show in the old Dorset Room of Poole Arts Centre (as it was known then) and in 1991 opened for hard rock band Magnum in the Wessex Hall.
“We were still quite new to it at that point so that was a bit of an eye opener – the rows of costumes and the riders and food and everything. I remember they had these walkways onto the stage that I wanted to use, but we were told to keep off!”
Having toured Germany, Holland and Belgium in June, as well as playing their official fortieth anniversary show at 1865 in Southampton, the Live and Unheard outing is a rare chance to see one of the UK’s pre-eminent prog bands of the last 40 years in a small and intimate setting.
“Yes, it’ll be fun, a chance to play to an audience close up again. I’m not sure we’ll do a full band show at Live and Unheard, but we might resurrect our band-in-a-box idea and record the bass and drums to play to. It’s been a busy year, for us. The tour and the anniversary show were great with the full stage production – we saw loads of people from across the years and two guys made the journey over from Bucharest. Incredible.
“Every show is different and this will be no exception,” adds Stuart. “There are times I wonder why I’m still doing it, but I can’t help it. What else would I do?”
Also appearing are Bournemouth indie rockers Traffic Cone Wizard whose album We:Are won the OMA for Best Recorded Work – Album and singer songwriter lucymoses representing OMA sponsors entx.
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Tickets available now at Live and Unheard September 2025 – Lighthouse.