Leeds City Museum has unveiled its exhibition celebrating the last 60 years of music in the city.
The exhibition is in partnership with Leeds Conservatoire, previously known as the Leeds College of Music, who are also celebrating their 60th anniversary simultaneously with the exhibition.
The Community Engagement Manager, Esther Amis-Hughes, said:
“I think what this exhibition is trying to do is show that the music scene in Leeds belongs to Leeds. People don’t leave and go to London, they stay in Leeds and they help other people to become musicians in Leeds. So I think that creates a great shared collective responsibility.”
The exhibition features a recreation of the iconic venue the Duchess of York which hosted the likes of Kurt Cobain in 1989 and Oasis in 1993 and 1994.
Alongside this there are a wealth of donations from people within the music scene in Leeds. This includes: a purpose-built sound booth, a custom made guitar used by the founder of Utah Saints Jez Willis. One of the other highlights are two working jukeboxes, provided by Sound Leisure who are the world’s oldest family-run jukebox company.
Joint Chairman of Sound Leisure Chris Black had this to say about being a part of the exhibition:
“We’re really proud to have made our contribution to the exhibition and we’re happy to support them for the duration.”
The exhibition will be open until the June 28, 2026 and will feature live music every Saturday and feature special events in November and December on select dates.
