Independent Venue Week supported by PRS for Music is a 6 day long series of gigs running from 28th January – 2nd February 2014.Celebrating 18 independent venues across the country.
Each of the 18 participating venues will host one night over the course of the week as their official Independent Venue Week gig. Artists, promoters, labels and blogs will work with each venue to curate, play and promote live music.
The project is also supported across BBC Introducing shows on national radio as well as 40 regional stations.
Independent venues sit at the heart of their local community, providing a vital lifeline to upcoming artists early in their careers whilst bringing together those fans who are passionate about live music. With more and more small to medium sized venues continuing to close around the country, Independent Venue Week supports those venues that play such a significant role to musicians and fans alike.
“Independent Venue Week is a fantastic idea. Small venues are the lifeblood of British music. There’s a particular kind of excitement when you go to a gig at these venues. They’re visceral and intimate.”
Phil Selway, Radiohead
Co-founder of the initiative, Sybil Bell said “The struggle to compete with large, sponsor-backed venues makes it a tough and challenging time for independents. Combine this with bands finding it harder to tour due to limited revenues and rising on-the-road costs and we can all see what a difficult climate live venues find themselves in. There’s never been a more important time to highlight the importance of these treasured places; getting people excited about discovering new music up close and personal and reigniting fans passion for gig-going.”
“Without small, independent venues, there’d be no small, independent bands, and without them there’d be no big acts either; these places are the lifeblood of any music scene, and any music fan should care about them and support Independent Venue Week”.
Frank Turner
Official Venues confirmed for 2014
Glasgow
King Tuts Wah Wah Hut
London
Half Moon Putney
Norwich
Arts Centre
Newcastle
The Cluny
Cardiff
Clwb Ifor Bach (celebrating its 30th anniversary this year)
Stoke-On-Trent
Sugarmill (celebrating its 20th anniversary this year)
Liverpool
Zanzibar
Bristol
The Louisiana
Belfast
Oh Yeah Centre
Leeds
The Library
Southampton
The Joiners (celebrating its 45th anniversary this year)
Guilford
Boileroom
Sheffield
The Leadmill
Oxford
The Jericho
Plymouth
Tiki Bar
Manchester
Soup Kitchen
Tunbridge Wells
The Forum (celebrating its 20th anniversary this year)
York
Fibbers
Specific dates, line up’s and tickets will be announced over the coming days and weeks via social media and on the main independentvenueweek.com website. www.facebook.com/independentvenueweek Twitter; @IVW_UK
