Elbow, KT Tunstall, Metronomy and Slow Readers Club to play intimate shows for MVT and grassroots venues

Elbow, KT Tunstall, Metronomy and Slow Readers Club to play intimate shows for MVT and grassroots venues

Elbow, KT Tunstall, Metronomy and Slow Readers Club are to play a series of intimate shows in support of grassroots venues.

The acts will play gigs at locations that were key to their development as part of Passport: Back To Our Roots concerts which will take place in the autumn.

Proceeds from the shows will go the venues hosting the artists and Music Venue Trust’s Save Our Venues campaign.

Slow Readers Club will play The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge on September 19, KT Tunstall heads to Dunfermline's PJ Molloys on October 21, Metronomy will play in Brighton's Patterns on November 9, while Elbow will return to Manchester's Night & Day Cafe on November 23.

"It has been so meaningful to me and many others over this last mad year to see such support and love for our grassroots music venues” said KT Tunstall (pictured) of her involvement.

“Music lovers and musicians have come together to help protect the future of these small but mighty venues, many of which exist as labours of love, kept alive by blood, sweat, tears and a deep passion for music. It was a massive challenge for me getting booked in music venues when I was trying to get somewhere, so a venue like PJ Molloys is essential for aspiring musicians making their way up. Thank you so much to everyone who supported the campaign."

Elbow's Guy Garvey said he was honoured to be playing again at a venue that has transformed both Manchester and British music. 

"My dear departed friend Jan Oldenburg didn’t just start a music venue when he opened the Night & Day Café, he started a mini cultural revolution," he declared.

"So proud to be of the era that gave us Doves, Badly Drawn Boy, Rae & Christian, Stephen Fretwell, Andy Votel, I Am Kloot, Alfie, Jane Weaver, Mum & Dad to name but a few. Novelists, illustrators, choreographers, chefs, the best of their generation all congregated around that famous marble-topped bar. This won’t be just a celebration of venues this size and their importance but of everything Jan Oldenburg gave to Manchester’s cultural history." 

Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust whose Save Our Venues campaign has helped to secure the immediate future of 500 venues, welcomed the shows.

“We can't emphasise enough how absolutely vital the support of artists has been to the Save Our Venues campaign," he said.

"The artists that stepped forward to support the Passport Back to our Roots project not only provided an incredible opportunity for fans to see them in intimate surroundings, they provided a real focus of attention for audiences on what they could do to help their local venue survive. We are delighted that Passports shows are being announced as part of the campaign to Revive Live and can't wait to see some of these fantastic events take place."

Get Music Week every month for Mark Davyd's monthly column on taking stock of the live music sector.



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