Wild Paths is a new breed of festival, presenting the best in live music from indie, hip-hop and neo-soul, to post-punk and new-wave jazz and pairing it with themed after-parties, conferences, supper clubs, art fairs and a whole lot more.

The festival descends on Norwich for 4 days in October, taking over 20 of the city’s best-loved venues, and a host of other DIY spaces, including a Shoe Factory and a TV Studio. Featuring over 200 live acts, 60 conference speakers, artists, drag-queens, tattooists and DJ’s, it’s a celebration of music, food, art and culture… and the beautiful city of Norwich.

Founded by a collective of young creatives, this pioneering new multi-venue festival – and the team behind it – has quickly gained a reputation for presenting events that harbour a sense of community, innovation and inclusivity.

There’s so much going on at Wild Paths this October and it’s hard to distill all that festival fun into a few paragraphs but we did our best…

On Thursday and Friday daytime there’s keynote speakers and panels featuring music industry pros, artists and esteemed guests chatting about everything from current musical trends and tour stories to production techniques and sustainability. Gilles Peterson joins us at Norwich Arts Centre on Friday to discuss his new book ‘Lockdown FM’.

From Friday evening through till late Sunday the live music gets going. Make sure to catch Theon Cross and Emma-Jean Thackray playing their unique breed of progressive jazz in St Laurence Church and then hang around after for the famous late-night Wild Paths Jazz Jam. Stop by the Shoe Factory and catch The Big Moon, NiNE8, Olivia Dean and Barney Artist and enjoy the hip-shaking Afrobeat of Afriquoi. If the music gets too much then there’s a delicious three-course festival supper club over at Artel on Saturday afternoon or you can grab a luxury platter for two from The Wallow and catch a stripped-back set in a truly unique setting.

The Waterfront has a couple of stand-out headliners. On Friday there’s exuberant indie-pop heroes Sports Team with support from some stand-out, regional acts; Bessie Turner and Gaffa Tape Sandy. Saturday sees Irish singer and rapper Biig Piig and Lava La Rue descend on the venue for some soul-tinged melodies, silky vocals and hip-hop beats.

Then there’s a whole host of other cool stuff from NoGlum and Ed Le May’s art cart and zine gallery upstairs at the Last Pub Standing to Spilt Milks takeover at Voodoo Daddys featuring post-punk pioneers Do Nothing, Talk Show, JOHN and Nuha Ruby Ra.

So it looks like you’ll just have to grab yourself a Day, Weekend or VIP pass from the website and we’ll see you somewhere around the city this October!

For more information, line up and tickets – visit www.wildpaths.co.uk