Local bands for hire

In 2023, the typical price paid for a function band was £1350 mark. This would normally get you a 4-piece band.

What you may not know is that you can reduce these prices substantially when hiring a band locally, as you'd be saving on travel and accommodation costs. Bear in mind that most musicians will charge for the time that they've spent travelling, as well as their fuel costs.

There's also the added environmental benefit. By using a local band you'll help keep the carbon footprint of your event to a minimum.

Use the regional search menus at the top of this page to find bands in your local area. We cover the south east, south west, east and west midlands, wales and the entire north of the country.

From Bar Mitzvahs to retirement dos, annual office parties to New Year's celebrations, birthdays and weddings, we provide the very best local bands to hire for every chapter of your life.

The bands on this page specialise in getting guests dancing at after-dinner functions - but if you're looking for music you can talk over at an afternoon drinks reception or early evening meal, browse our background musicians in the menus at the top of this page.

You can see a complete list of any particular band's repertoire on their profile page, but, on the whole, our local bands for hire perform well-known, pop, rock and soul covers from artists over the last 50 years. All the bands on this page are intended for after-dinner dancing at weddings and parties.

You can book anything from a 3-piece guitar band, through to a 10-piece show band featuring a brass section, backing vocalists and percussion.

From Elvis and The Beatles to contemporary hits by Dua Lipa, Beyoncé and The Weeknd, nothing is off limits for our bands!

If you have a specific genre in mind and would rather a band that focuses on a theme, check out our soul and funk bands, swing bands or our tribute acts that cover the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Aside from hiring a band in your local area, we recommend the following:

• book the band on a weekdays or in winter for the lowest costs.
• consider hiring a 3-piece band, or even a duo – look for duos who incorporate a rhythmic element such as a cajon drum, or use backing tracks, so you can still dance to them.
• Many of our function bands can also perform afternoon background music that will then save you additional costs in booking others to travel and perform at a different time of day.
• If you haven't got a definite date in mind for your function yet, you might want to think about hosting a midweek or winter event to make the most of our bands reduced rates.

In most cases, yes! Though this does depend on the song. If it's a quirkier choice with a heavy production factor (for example, including strings and woodwind), it may not be easy for the band to do justice to the original recording.

In this case, all of our local wedding bands will be able to play the recording of your song through their sound system.

Absolutely! All our local bands for hire are self-contained and bring their own PA sound system as well as the microphones, amplifiers and instruments that they need for your event.

What's more, almost all of our bands will bring a lighting rig to add even more ambience to your function.

Let us know if you're expecting more than 200 guests at your event so that we can double check that the band's sound system is large enough.

The only thing our bands need is access to a power supply and a suitably sized space to perform in.

As a guide, we suggest putting aside a 4m wide x 3m deep space for a typical 4-piece band – and then adding an extra square metre for each extra band member. 3-piece bands and duos will need less space.

If it's possible to have this space on a raised stage, that will always help your band have a bigger impact but the most important thing is that the space is flat and dry!

On the whole, our function bands just need 60-90 minutes from around 5pm or 6pm to set up their gear and run a quick sound check.

It's best if the room where the band are sound-checking is closed off to guests, to avoid any disruption.

If you're booking a band for after-dinner dancing, most of our acts will perform 2 x 60 minute sets from around 9pm, through to midnight - normally with a half hour interval.

If you're keen to keep the music going after midnight, either with the band or their DJ service, an extra fee may apply.