Heard It Here First - #44 CloseUp Festival Special

Heard It Here First - #44 CloseUp Festival Special

From Heard It Here First by Keira Knox

April 24, 2026 · 48 min · Season 1 · Episode 44

About this episode

This episode features an in-depth discussion with CloseUp Festival founder Sam Tucker and artists from the festival's lineup about the importance of supporting emerging musicians.

In this special episode, we’ve teamed up with CloseUp Festival to take you behind the scenes of one of the UK’s most exciting grassroots festivals championing new music. We sit down with founder Sam Tucker to talk about how the festival came to life, what it takes to build something like this from the ground up, and why creating space for emerging artists has never been more important. Plus, we catch up with artists from this year’s lineup ( Pale Blue Eyes , Only Real , and Lizzie Esau )to talk about their music, their journey so far, and what playing CloseUp means to them. If you’re into discovering your next favourite artist before they blow up, this one’s for you. 🔗Get your tickets here

People in this episode

Guests: Sam Tucker, Pale Blue Eyes, Lizzie Esau, Only Real

Topics covered

  • CloseUp Festival
  • grassroots festivals
  • emerging artists
  • new music

Keywords

  • music festival
  • artist interviews
  • UK music scene

Mentioned in this episode

Products: CloseUp

Books & works: Heard It Here, Only Real

Places: UK

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