Bathgate singer Luke La Volpe has been announced among the first artists taking part in the Music Venue Trust and National Lottery’s ‘United By Music’ Tour shows this summer.
‘United by Music’ sees 150 artists playing gigs in 130 grassroots venues across the UK, with fans able to buy 2-for-1 tickets with a National Lottery product.
Luke, who was made a patron of Music Venue Trust after organising the online Sofathon Singalong festivals in aid of grassroots music venues during lockdown, said:
“I’m proud to be a patron of the Music Venue Trust and part of the United By Music tour. Grassroots venues are the life blood of music. Every night of the week, fans are in there watching unknown artists evolve into the next arena megastars. I learned how to do this by gigging in these venues since I was 15 years old. Without them there is no music.”
Luke will play 8 shows, including 4 in Scotland, starting on September 1st at the Dreadnought in his home town of Bathgate and finishing at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh.
The dates are:
September
Fri 01 – Bathgate Dreadnought
Sat 02 – Dundee Beat Generator
Sun 03 – Galashiels Mac Arts
Wed 06 – Leicester The Musician
Thu 07 – Southampton Stage Door
Fri 08 – London The Troubadour
Sat 09 – Brighton Folklore Rooms
Mon 11 – Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s
Tickets for Luke’s tour and the other ‘United By Music’ shows announced so far go on sale on Monday 15th May at 10am from www.unitedbymusic.live
Scottish Music Award ‘breathrough’ winner Luke has previously supported Lewis Capaldi, The Snuts, Tom Walker, Tom Grennan and Jake Bugg and headlined a sold out show at Glasgow’s SWG3 Galvanisers in December. Here he is performing at TRNSMT festival 2022:
The National Lottery and Music Venue Trust announce £1.5m grassroots music legacy for Eurovision 2023
The National Lottery’s United By Music Tour will see Music Venue Trust stage 150 gigs at 130 venues across the UK in support of grassroots music sector
The largest legacy initiative announced so far for Eurovision 2023 providing vital support to live music venues and taking celebration of Eurovision across the UK
Blossoms, Metronomy and Cat Burns among artists set to perform special one-off shows in support of The National Lottery’s United By Music Tour
Sleeper, The Dirty Nil, Opus Kink, Prima Queen, MVT patron Luke La Volpe and more to tour Grassroots Music Venues
Follows the success of Liverpool leg of United By Music Tour that is seeing 20 gigs staged across the city during week of Eurovision
All tickets to be 2-for-1 for National Lottery players to thank them for their ongoing support of The Music Venue Trust.
See unitedbymusic.live for dates and tickets
May 10th, 2023, 6pm BST. The National Lottery and leading UK charity Music Venue Trust has announced a unique Eurovision legacy for grassroots music venues across the UK through The National Lottery’s United By Music Tour, bringing 150 gigs to 130 locations across the country.
The initiative was launched with a special free concert for 15,000 people in the Eurovision Village on Wednesday night and follows the successful delivery of the Liverpool leg of the National Lottery’s United By Music Tour that sees iconic local artists such as Lightning Seeds, The Coral and Miles Kane playing local venues in support of the live music sector.
The announcement takes The National Lottery contribution to grassroots venues through the United By Music Tour to £1.5m and comes at a crucial time when many venues are still suffering the fall out from the pandemic and the impact of the cost of living crisis. The funds committed underwrite the costs of bands’ performance and touring costs ensuring venues get artists at no cost to them and is the single largest legacy initiative announced for Eurovision 2023 to date.
Kicking off in mid-June, the gigs will see a diverse range of up and coming and established headline artists perform in music venues across the UK. Blossoms, Metronomy, Cat Burns, – and more to be announced – will be playing one-off shows to highlight the importance of grassroots music venues.
Speaking about taking part in the tour Blossoms said “Without grassroots venues there would’ve been nowhere for us to perform, grow and develop as a live act. The future of live music relies on every single small venue across the country and we’re really pleased to be able to show our support for all of them by playing this show at the Parish in Huddersfield.”
National tours will feature more than 20 artists including Sleeper, The Dirty Nil, Opus Kink, Luke La Volpe, October Drift and Prima Queen, with all tickets available on a 2-for-1 basis to National Lottery players as a thank you for their support.
Speaking about the tour Louise Wener of Sleeper, who will play 12 gigs from Dumfries to Dover, said “All those amazing grassroots venues allowed Sleeper to grow. Touring the country, crowds right in front of our faces, it’s how we learned to be a live band. They’re part of our history. Part of every great band’s history. You can’t have one without the other. There’s nothing like the intimacy and buzz you get in a smaller venue. Reconnecting with clubs we played coming up in the 90s is exciting. Supporting them now feels more important than it’s ever been.”
As well as supporting local venues The National Lottery and Music Venue Trust have launched the tour to extend the celebration of Liverpool’s historic hosting of Eurovision across the breadth of the country. In addition it will celebrate and recognise all 17 UK towns and cities that initially bid to host Eurovision with an event in each of them.
Every National Lottery player who purchased a ticket will be invited to bring a “plus one” for free – all they need to do to qualify for this offer is to bring any National Lottery product when they attend the gig.
Tickets for The National Lottery’s United by Music Tour will be live on May 15 2023 at 10am. See www.unitedbymusic.live for tickets.
Ian Broudie, whose band Lightning Seeds performed as part of the Liverpool leg of the United By Music Tour and played in the Fan Village to help launch the UK wide initiative comments: “The atmosphere in Liverpool has been incredible and it’s been great to see old and new fans alike come down to not only support us, but the music venues we’ve performed in. Grassroots music venues are integral to the future of music and need to be supported, which is why I’m delighted that The National Lottery and Music Venue Trust have extended the tour to the rest of the UK.”
This is the third year The National Lottery has partnered with Music Venue Trust, underwriting the full touring and production costs of artists participating, as part of their ongoing commitment to the grassroots music sector and takes the total money committed to £5.5m.
Mark Dayvd, CEO of Music Venue Trust said, “Following the success of the Liverpool Tour, which saw us host a week-long series of music gigs across the city, we are delighted to be partnering with The National Lottery again to extend the celebrations to the rest of the UK. Supporting grassroots music venues has never been more important and we’re delighted to be using venues across the country to highlight new and established artists the world will come to know and love.”
For the schedule of gigs and for more information on The National Lottery’s United By Music UK Tour, please visit: unitedbymusic.live
