Music in the Marathon 2026

Music is the City further establishes itself as a  year round movement supporting local live music by delivering the sounds to the ABP Southampton Marathon for the second year of what's become the event within an event: Music in the Marathon.

Southampton's marathon is an amazing event that continues to grow in popularity, having been successfully delivered by Rees Leisure over the bank holiday weekend (2nd/3rd May 2026) for its 11th year.

With 9,000 runners and an estimated 25,000 crowd… it was a ready made event and audience for us to perform to.

The opportunity to play was put to our database of artists, and we put as many on as we possibly could across the 17 different pop up stages around the courses. We had a total of 50 live performances during the day and into the evening in the Guildhall for an after party. Over 450 musicians performed in total -  it was very much enjoyed and appreciated by the artists and the runners and the watching public.

The Marathon team feedback:

"You truly deserve a massive amount of credit for the atmosphere out on the course—there was so much positive feedback from runners and spectators alike. The energy from all the acts was incredible and played a huge role in keeping spirits high throughout the day. It really made a difference to the overall experience."

We’ve been asked to deliver Music in the Marathon again next year, to be held on Sunday 2nd May 2027.

Pictured: Open sided articulated truck 'rock' stage at the entrance to Itchen Bridge in Woolston

Soul45 DJ at the Southampton Football Stadium (being visited by the legendary Rhino Boy Chris - he stopped and danced at all of our stages!)

Panatical Steel Drummers (Crestwood Community School) on Southampton Common

Swan Samba drummers on the Mayflower roundabout at the start of the race