For the past quarter of a century, The Levellers have arguably been Brighton’s biggest musical export.

And with the creation of recording studio The Metway from a derelict warehouse in 1994, they could never be accused of turning their back on the city.

Their biggest Brighton show since an acoustic appearance at the 2009 Brighton Fringe marks the 25th anniversary of frontman Mark Chadwick and bassist Jeremy Cunningham’s first meeting at The Eagle in Gloucester Road, Brighton, in 1988.

In that time, The Levellers have pioneered the way most bands operate today – keeping up an intensive touring schedule, releasing singles and albums on their own label, as well as working with independent companies, and building up a word-of-mouth reputation which saw debut album A Weapon Called The Word sell more than 100,000 copies without breaking the charts.

Highs and lows

The band’s commercial peak came in the 1990s, with the quartet of classic albums starting with 1991’s Levelling The Land to 1997’s Mouth To Mouth, which between them contain fan favourites and hits One Way, Far From Home, 15 Years, This Garden, Hope Street, Just The One and What A Beautiful Day.

Following the band’s old label China being taken over by Warner Brothers – and the relative commercial failure of more experimental 2000 album Hello Pig – the band has released albums through smaller independent labels Eagle and their own On The Fiddle.

Their latest release was five-track anti-war EP The Recruiting Sergeant in May, a new recording of the track from their 10th studio album Static On The Airwaves.

The continued popularity of the band shows in the fact that this home-coming show had to be moved from St Bartholomew’s Church due to exceptional demand and capacity restrictions.

Outside Brighton they founded the annual 15,000-capacity anti-corporate Beautiful Days Festival in Escot Park, Devon, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this August with an already sold-out event.

Support from McDermott’s Two Hours and Electric Soft Parade.