Johnny Marr to kick off 6 Music Live at Maida Vale

6 Music Live at Maida Vale returns in October and this year will form part of 6 Music Live, a network-wide celebration of live performances.

Today Lauren Laverne has announced the five acts that will be performing at Maida Vale from Monday 6 to Friday 10 October - they are Johnny Marr, First Aid Kit, James, La Roux, and Underworld.

Lauren Laverne said: "I can't wait for October to come around. It's going to be yet another brilliant year for the 6 Music Live at Maida Vale sessions with this amazing line-up which encapsulates the spirit of 6 Music."

Also as part of 6 Music Live, John Grant will perform with the BBC Philharmonic in Salford on Friday 3 October. And the celebration of live music continues this week with a day of sessions on shows across the network tomorrow (Tuesday 9 September). Later this week, 6 Music features exclusive performances from Robert Plant and Alt-J, both at Maida Vale.

Rounding up 6 Music Live, from Saturday 11 to Tuesday 14 October, all the shows will be celebrating and reliving some of the 300+ sessions performed on the network this past year, rediscovering and playing highlights from their stand-out moments and performances, showcasing the music the station believes in, champions and shares with its audience.

Sessions from this past year include Eno/Hyde, Royal Blood, Kate Tempest, Neneh Cherry, Mogwai, St Vincent, Lee Fields, Slow Club and Kiran Leonard, to name but a few.

From Monday 6 to Friday 10 October (10am-1pm), 6 Music Live at Maida Vale returns to these legendary studios for the fifth time for five days of incredible music, performed live to an intimate audience of fans. The week is hosted by Lauren Laverne who will interview the artists and introduce their sets. Each day this week in her daily show, Lauren will reveal the date each band or artist is performing at Maida Vale in October. The performances will also be live-streamed at bbc.co.uk/6music, plus there will be daily highlights via BBC Red Button during the evening and the following week.

Last October, 6 Music Live at Maida Vale featured Sir Paul McCartney, Polica, Sigur Ros, Goldfrapp and Manic Street Preachers and reached over 1.2 million viewers via the BBC Red Button. Tickets will be available via a ballot and applications open on Monday 15 September - for details about applying visit bbc.co.uk/6music.

The line-up features:

Johnny Marr: The former Smiths guitarist and one of the most influential musicians of the past 30 years has played with acts such as Electronic, The Cribs and Modest Mouse. He has now struck out alone and will be performing for 6 Music in the week his second solo album, Playland, is released.
Underworld: Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of their seminal album dubnobasswithmyheadman, Underworld will be performing tracks from this, one of the most influential electronic albums of all time.
First Aid Kit: Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg bring their beautiful country folk to Maida Vale following an enormously successful year, which found them headlining the Royal Albert Hall in London and receiving enormous acclaim for their third album, Stay Gold.
James: Now over 30 years into a career during which the Manchester band has sold over 12 million albums worldwide, James released their first album in six years earlier in 2014, the acclaimed La Petite Mort. Their session will be a celebratory performance featuring of music old and new material.
La Roux: Five years after the release of her two million-selling self-titled debut album, La Roux bring their magnificent brand of electro pop to listeners. Championed early on by 6 Music's Steve Lamacq, La Roux's second album, Trouble In Paradise, was released to rave reviews earlier in the summer. Singer Elly Jackson will be playing tracks from that alongside classics from the debut.

Shows tomorrow (Tuesday 9 September) will be welcoming live sessions from Magic Numbers on Chris Hawkins (5-7am), Pauline Black on Shaun Keaveny (7-10am), Lia Ices on Lauren Laverne (10am-1pm), Roddy Frame on Radcliffe and Maconie (1-4pm), Catfish and the Bottlemen on Steve Lamacq (4-7pm), BC Camplight on Marc Riley (7-9pm), and Nat Johnson on Gideon Coe (9pm-midnight).

Later this week at the BBC's Maida Vale studios, Lauren Laverne is joined by former Led Zeppelin front-man, Robert Plant, who will be treating 6 Music listeners to tracks from the first album with his new band, The Sensational Spaceshifters (Thursday 11 September, 10am-1pm). And this Friday Lauren will be joined by Perfume Genius, the project of Seattle-based solo artist, Mike Hadreas. Also on Friday, Mercury Prize-winning Alt-J, championed by Steve Lamacq, join him for a live session from the BBC's Maida Vale studios. Alt-J will be delivering a radio exclusive, performing tracks from their new album which is tipped to be one of the best selling of the year.