Route 65. Covers band based in Ilkley, Yorkshire. UK. Last update 30th July 2026
Breaking (EVEN) more amazing news than last year: Pat's Party collection for charity in 2025 broke previous records with over £13000 sent to charity. This year (2026) I understand it is over £15000. WOW! A HUGE thank you from all of us for your help in achieving this fantastic result.
We are a band of fun loving folk who came together through a love of music - especially sing along, foot tapping sixties stuff when music was real music!
We met through the University of the Third Age (U3A) and had so much in common we decided to form a band. Route 65 has been going for around 7 years now though we had a bit of an extended enforced break recently
We all live in or around the A65 Ilkley/Menston area of Yorkshire, the inspiration for the band name.
If we ever forget where we live, (Good evening officer!) - the band name serves the dual purpose of helping the emergency services get us home - should that ever be needed.
About Us
We are a seven piece semi-acoustic band that plays at gigs ranging from community care homes to pub gardens, large outdoor fetes and just about everything in between.
STOP PRESS: For really small venues such as care home lounges we do a cut down setup doing similar material but with just four of us using acoustic instruments. If you are interested in this format please message us and ask about 'The Senior Moments'. We would be pleased to help
We have keyboards, guitars bass and percussion and five vocalists allowing for many different styles and the use of multipart vocal harmonies.
We use two different amplification setups depending on the size of event: A small busker amplifier arrangement for the smaller events and a full public address rig for larger spaces and outdoor events.
Our main aims are for the audience (and ourselves) to have fun dancing or singing along on a trip down memory lane. Along the way we raise money for charity.
Charges: We aim to support charities so don't charge as such - giving 95% of whatever income we have to charity. We do accept bribes of tea and cake or occasionally a beer however. For non charity events such as private parties we suggest a minimum donation which we distribute to our preferred charities. We can talk this through if you are looking to book the band.
Travel: We normally play venues within a 20 mile or so distance of Ilkley. This is relatively relaxed so chat with us and we'll see if we can help.
The Music
The original artists we cover include:
Beatles, Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, Searchers, Simon and Garfunkel, Abba, Tina Turner, Mamas and the Papas, Martha and the Vandellas, Manfred Mann, Travelling Wilburys, Honeycombs, Dusty Springfield, The Monkees, Queen, Status Quo, Dire Straits and many more!
Special requests:
If we have enough notice we can add in songs not currently in our repertoire. We have also been known to rewrite lyrics of a song to suit special occasions. Chat to us if you think that may be a good idea.
A special request may include one of guests performing a song or two with our help. This can be a lot of fun but does need a bit of planning.
A typical setlist:
Set 1 50 minutes - mix of quiet and loud
Rocking all over the world - Status Quo 1977,
dont stop thinking about tomorrow - Fleetwood Mac 1977,
Proud Mary - Credence Clearwater Revival 1969,
I should have known better 1964 - The Beatles,
You never can tell - Chuck Berry,
Be Bop a lula - Gene Vincent 1956,
Let it Be. 1970 in C Marian - Beatles,
Peaceful Easy Feeling - Eagles,
The last time 1965 - The Rolling Stones,
Shes Electric - Oasis,
Crocodile Rock - Elton John 1972,
Summer of 69 R65,
Make Me Smile 1975 - Steve Harley & Cockney rebel. c 1975,
Do wah diddy Twist and shout medley 1964 - Manfred Mann,
Set 2 60 minutes - a lot noisier - mostly
Born to be wild - Steppenwolf,
Roll over Beethoven V2 - Beatles
The Wanderer - DION 1961 and status quo much later,
Blue Suede Shoes 1956 - Carl Perkins,
Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Seven Bridges Acapella,
Take it Easy - The Eagles 1972,
Youre so vain - Carly Simon,
Walk of Life - Dire Straits,
Daydream Believer - The Monkees 1968,
Mony Mony - Tommy James and the Shondells,
Honky Tonk Women 1969 - Rolling Stones,
I'm gonna be (500 miles) - proclaimers,
Crazy Little Thing Called Love - - Queen,
The next few public gigs (updated 30th July 2026)
Please keep an eye on this list as we will update the information as soon as we know. (Please note for 2026 we have changed
our usual two wednesdays per month slots at the Ilkley Riverside Hotel to Tuesdays - just one appearance per month. See below)
We are fairly busy over the next 2-3 months (June - august 2026) but have some free slots later on in the year. We have lots of new songs and we are looking forward to trying the new stuff out in upcoming gigs.
We may pop up at other local festivals and venues
Sat 22nd August 1PM-3PM Ilkley Bandstand. Free event in lovely surroundings
Christmas parties - its not too early to be planning ahead!: We have quite a few parties booked in the latter part of this year but still have space for the odd extra one or two maybe. Contact us if you would like to find out more.
A lot of the public gigs are outdoors so please check before travelling just in case we are rained off! If something is cancelled because of weather or any other reason we will try and update the calendar on the upcoming gigs page (or just message us and ask.)
Send us an email