{"id":31296,"date":"2025-10-13T10:44:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T09:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/?p=31296"},"modified":"2026-02-16T15:22:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T15:22:47","slug":"preview-riot-fest-thursday-23rd-26th-october-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/preview-riot-fest-thursday-23rd-26th-october-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview – Riot Fest, Thursday 23rd – 26th October 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Meet the real life Riot Women – Riotous Collective project hosts four-day<\/strong>
\nmusic festival in Leicester<\/strong><\/h1>\n

A four-day music festival showcasing 19 all-women bands in Leicester is set to take place next month at venues around the city.<\/p>\n

It comes just as a new TV drama telling the fictional story of a group of women who start a punk band and find they have plenty to say, hits our screens this October.
\nRiot Women is written by Sally Wainwright who is best known for the hit shows Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax and Gentleman Jack, starring Tamsin Greig and Joanna Scanlan.<\/p>\n

The idea of older women forming punk bands is nothing new in Leicester. The late Ruth Miller began Unglamorous Music<\/a> in 2021 by forming the all-women band The Verinos and going on to
\nhold a series of workshops to encourage women of all ages to pick up instruments, learn to play them and get on stage.<\/p>\n

Ruth died in 2023, but her legacy lives on as Unglamorous Music was reborn as Riotous Collective<\/a>, which continues to organise workshops and support more women to live their dream of being in a band.<\/p>\n

More than 30 all-women bands of varied musical genres have formed because of the Unglamorous and Riotous Collective projects. More than 20 are currently active and gigging. Many of them have also recorded and released their music.<\/p>\n

19 bands will play at the Riotous Collective event Riot Fest, which takes place from Thursday, October 23 to Sunday, October 26.<\/p>\n

Riotous Collective member and one of the festival organisers, Caroline Wright said: \u201cIf you\u2019ve been inspired by seeing the Riot Women trailers, we think you\u2019ll love seeing the incredible live performances that will take place this autumn at Riot Fest 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnglamorous and Riotous Collective inspired so many women \u2013 not just in Leicester but further afield around the UK and in Australia, Germany and Finland and some of those bands will be
\njoining us at Riot Fest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe movement is transforming the music scene in Leicester. Our bands are performing and bringing music lovers into the city centre all year round to enjoy a good night out in a friendly and
\ninclusive atmosphere and hear real music played with passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival will be followed by taster sessions so that women can come along and try it out for themselves. Next year the Riotous Collective 66 Days to the Stage series of workshops will be held again so that more women can get involved and start a band of their own.<\/p>\n

Caroline said: \u201cWe hope the Riot Women TV drama inspires even more women to get involved with the next Riotous Collective cohort and get on stage, and perhaps they will be performing at Riot Fest 26!\u201d<\/p>\n

Riot Fest events are:
\nThursday, October 23
\nStayfree Showcase – Riotous Collective Take Over! – The Big Difference, 7pm<\/p>\n

Friday, October 24
\nCommon Room Riot – The Real Ale Classroom, 7pm<\/p>\n

Saturday, October 25
\nRiotous Collective \u2018International\u2019 – Firebug 2pm<\/p>\n

Sunday 26th October
\nUp the Duffy’s \u2013 Riotous Collective and Friends (boys allowed!) Duffy’s Bar 2.30pm
\nRiot Fest tickets cost \u00a35 per event or \u00a315 for a wristband.
\nThe Riotous Collective Music Taster sessions will take place on<\/p>\n

Sundays – 9th November, 23rd November , 7th December 2025 at Stayfree Music 2-4 Frog Island
\nLeicester LE3 5AG.<\/p>\n

Contact Caroline on 0116 2230303 for more information
\nClick here<\/a> for more information and click here<\/a> for tickets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet the real life Riot Women – Riotous Collective project hosts four-day music festival in Leicester<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":31297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[346,218,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-346","category-gig-previews","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Riot-Fest.jpg?fit=1501%2C661&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73uhX-88M","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31333,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/festival-review-riot-fest-thursday-23rd-october-sun-26-october-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":31296,"position":0},"title":"Festival review – Riot Fest, Thursday 23rd October – Sun 26 October 2025","author":"Kevin Gaughan","date":"09\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Kel\u2019s almost recklessly abandoned drums were on a runaway train trajectory as Jo delivered a sharp volley of semi-inexplicable chord structures and complexly observant lyrics.","rel":"","context":"In "2025"","block_context":{"text":"2025","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/2025\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_7167.jpg?fit=703%2C468&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_7167.jpg?fit=703%2C468&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_7167.jpg?fit=703%2C468&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_7167.jpg?fit=703%2C468&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":30241,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/ruth-miller\/","url_meta":{"origin":31296,"position":1},"title":"Ruth Miller","author":"Kevin Gaughan","date":"19\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This week saw the passing of one of Leicester's musical free spirits and inspiration to many, Ruth Miller - having been in the Leicester Music scene for decades, performing solo, in her own band, PO! 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