£1m initiative will support over 300 live performances in ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’.
Sir Tom Jones, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man and Mahalia among artists to perform special one-off shows.
The National Lottery has partnered with leading UK charity Music Venue Trust (MVT) in a unique initiative to help revive the UK’s grassroots live music sector.
In an unprecedented collaboration, The National Lottery – one of the biggest funders of culture in the UK – will contribute £1M to directly underwrite the touring and production costs of over 300 live performances this summer, enabling the grassroots live music industry to start promoting shows again in the knowledge that the upfront costs associated with touring are covered.
‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’ will run throughout the summer and will see a diverse range of headline artists including Olivia Dean, Twin Atlantic, The Magic Gang and The Futureheads perform at hundreds of grassroots music venues throughout the country. More than 20 tours will be taking place, once venues are able to open, in line with government guidance, with National Lottery players having a chance to gain access to every show for free.
Special one-off shows by Sir Tom Jones, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Mahalia, James Arthur, Frank Turner, Sam Fender and Fontaines D.C. will also take place at grassroots music venues to support the initiative and celebrate the return of live music.
Sir Tom Jones said: “Musicians can record in their bedrooms, but they can’t learn to perform in public without a place to play. Without that, there is no way you can communicate directly to people. It’ll be tough to hone your skills and you’ll never have the thrill of feeling their feedback. Without a grassroots music venue, the neighbourhood won’t have a place where people can come together to discover and support a new talent”.
“So support your local pub, club, gym or church or wherever someone has the guts to bring in some entertainment, it makes all the difference both to budding artists and the community. I’m delighted to be able to perform a special show as part of The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour and to be celebrating the return of live music”
Up to 30,000 tickets – or around half the capacity of these shows – will be gifted to National Lottery players, giving music fans the opportunity to get back to live gigs as soon as possible.
Every National Lottery ticket-holder will be invited to bring a “plus one” for free – all they need to do to qualify for this offer is to show a National Lottery ticket or Scratchcard purchased in-store or online/via the National Lottery app when they attend the gig
Tickets for ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’ go on sale on Monday 12 July from 8pm.
Nigel Railton, Chief Executive of National Lottery operator Camelot, said:
“The National Lottery is very excited to be working with Music Venue Trust in what we believe is a truly ground-breaking initiative. The last year has been incredibly challenging for many industries and we hope ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’ will help kick start the return of grassroots live music. With every ticket having a built in plus-one, we hope The National Lottery can bring friends back together this summer to once again share the experiences we’ve all missed, while thanking players for the amazing things they make happen just by buying a ticket.”
Mark Dayvd, CEO of Music Venue Trust said, “It’s so important to get artists and crew back out and working, to get our grassroots music venues back up and running, and to get friends, families and communities back together enjoying live music”.
“Grassroots music venues play a crucial role in the development of British music, nurturing local talent, providing a platform for artists to build their careers and develop their music and their performance skills. These venues also play a vital role in the cultural and economic vibrancy of any village, town or city. ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’ is a fantastic initiative which will kickstart the return of great events across the country. We can’t wait to get started!”
Culture Minister, Caroline Dinenage said: “It’s been a challenging period for our brilliant grassroots music venues which is why we’ve provided more than £200 million to over 800 music organisations from our unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund. As we continue to work towards live events being fully reopened from July 19th, I’m pleased that this collaboration will help get many artists back playing live at local venues across the country.”
Jo Whiley, Radio DJ, Broadcaster and Ambassador for ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’, said: “We have fantastic venues all over the country that provide a stage for an amazing range of musicians, and all have been impacted by the pandemic. ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’ is an amazing opportunity to showcase the incredible artists and support these grassroot music venues that are so integral to our cultural fabric”.
“I’m sure many people have missed the experience of live music over the course of the lockdown, myself included. I can’t wait to go to see these amazing musicians on stage again!“
“We really love playing independent venues. The atmosphere and character that you notice straight away when you enter the building is just the best.
Pip Blom shared “We are very excited that now that we’re finally able to play live shows again, that we can go back to these grassroots venues and get to experience it all over again!”
Conor Deegan from Fontaines DC has said “Venues such as Roadmender are the way bands make a name for themselves. If you don’t gig then you don’t really exist, a record is a photograph, easily faked. It’s only when you see a band live that you know who they really are- if they’re the real deal or if they’re just a bunch of phonies. And it’s not at the stage when you’re playing arenas that this can be ascertained – we all know that there’s plenty of bands selling out arenas that don’t have what they sell on the tin”.
“So it’s down to those small gigs to know what’s really up. There’s no lightshow or expensive PA to hide behind, there’s just music and the people attending, who will either adore you or curse your name. Or even worse, they could ‘take you or leave you’.
“We’re doing this show as part of ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour’ to reconnect with the real stuff, and make sure that we’re still a half decent band. And God knows we all need a gig.”
AK Patterson have added: “We’re really excited to work with Revive Live. Grassroots music venues are the bedrock of the music industry. For up and coming artists, they give you an unparalleled opportunity to go out there, settle your stage fright and craft your songs across the country. We have been playing in grassroots venues from the age of 15, and always get a buzz from it. These intimate spaces are magic and really encourage you to get face to face with your audience, and craft your performance. In such a strange time, we must support these venues and each other so let’s get out there and pump some musical life back into the streets. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on”.
Frank Turner has stated: “The last year has been incredibly difficult for everyone, but in particular, the live music industry has been completely shuttered. That’s been understandable, but it’s hard to express how exciting it is to be on the verge of bringing it back as part of the National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour. It’s an entire culture that revolves around bringing people together, closing up the gaps, showing us that we can be more than the sum of our parts. The whole experience, being at a show, in the crowd, in the wings or on the stage, is something we’ve all missed so very much, and I cannot wait to get back to it. I also can’t promise I won’t shed a tear. Bring it on”.
Over the last 14 months grassroots music venues have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – 83% of venues have faced closure during this period and are emerging from lockdown burdened with a collective debt of £45m.*
A recently conducted LIVE survey of music fans shows that the majority are now ready to return to live music, with over 75% ready to attend shows immediately. The results of this survey indicate that enthusiasm for live music has been intensified by the crisis, with one third of gig-goers say they will attend shows more frequently than they did previously.
The money for this initiative comes from a National Lottery promotional fund. It is not being funded by money allocated for National Lottery Good Causes or by Camelot.
For more information on ‘The National Lottery’s Revive Live Tour‘, please visit:
musicvenuetrust.com/the-national-lottery-revive-live-tour