The line up for the annual Future competition was revealed earlier today.

Every year unsigned bands from around the North of the UK are offered the opportunity to play at the annual Leeds Music Festival. This opportunity has been available for the last 9 years and the idea began back when the festival was staged at Temple Newsam.

In the early days six unsigned bands were afforded a mid-afternoon spot on the Comedy Stage. And it was Leeds only … there was no provision for our Southern cousins down in Reading!

In more recent times, the festival organisers created a dedicated Unsigned Stage at the Leeds Festival. And followed that a year later with the dual-site BBC Introducing Stage.

Finally, after a number of years of inequality, fans attending the Reading Festival were also able to enjoy three days of top quality unsigned bands.

But don’t be put off by its name, unsigned is by no means a reflection on the quality. In previous years, the stage has hosted The Sunshine Underground and The Pigeon Detectives.

Dinosaur Pile-up played last year … this year they will appear on the NME Radio One Stage.

With opportunities for unsigned bands now greater than ever, it’s down to the last thirty to battle out for the six places available through the Futuresound 2009 competition. Those thirty bands are:

- Castrovalva
- Team Modeliste
- Yonderboy
- Broadcast Society
- Ellen and the Escapades
- Last Gang
- Benjamin Wetherill and the Trumpets of Death
- Evil Regent
- The Old Romantic Killer Band
- Chickenhawk
- Hey Sholay
- Holy State
- Aces & Eights
- Gaze
- Kinch
- The Bear Driver
- Gary Stewart
- Killing Fields Of Ontario
- Milk White White Teeth
- Pavilion
- Spodni Pradlo
- The Bedroom Orchestra
- Sketches
- Wonderswan
- Just Handshakes (We’re British)
- Middleman
- The Stations
- The Finnlys
- Fourteen Corners
- Olfar and the Feral Pets

Please have a listen to the bands and comment below on the selection.

Entry for the event (entries now closed) was open to bands from around West Yorkshire and the winning six bands will appear at both Leeds and Reading sites.

The overall winner will play on the Festival Republic Stage. The remaining five will appear on the BBC Introducing Stage.

The competition takes place over 10 dates at the Cockpit in Leeds during June and July with each gig judged by three independent members of the music industry (yours truly has judged previous events).

The top six will be announced in July.

If your band wasn’t selected, do not despair. There are still opportunities to play on the BBC Introducing Stage. Have a read of our festival guide for unsigned bands to find out more – afterall, there’s a whole weekend to fill on the stage!