Virtual Festival to help raise funds and awareness of plight of music venues.
With the 2020 festival season now most likely being wiped out the Music Venue Trust are bringing the festival scene to your home with their announcement of the #SaveOurScottishVenues virtual festival on 19th June.
There is no need to look out the camping gear, or stock up on slabs of cheap beer. You don’t even have to queue for toilets and dread what you find when you get there. If you do, then I’m seriously concerned. So on Friday 19th June you can log on, sit back in the comfort of your own home and take in music across three stages without having to traipse across a muddy field.
The event will be streamed on livefrom.events, the festival will feature recorded performances by Scottish musicians who have come together to support Scotland’s vital grassroots music venues facing closure due to Covid-19.
The first artists to be announced are KT Tunstall, The Xcerts, Hunter and the Bear, Wet Wet Wet, Be Charlotte, Fatherson, Luke La Volpe, Hue & Cry, Honeyblood and Anchor Lane. Festival host Vic Galloway will also be talking to musicians and venue reps to highlight the synergy between these venues and the artists whose careers they help develop.
The weekend will start on Thursday 18th June at 8pm with a free-to-view performance by Fran Healy. Filmed on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles, this special acoustic performance will be streamed on Facebook HERE.
Viewers will be able to donate to the Scottish national fundraiser page or to venue’s individual fundraising pages including Inverness’s The Tooth & Claw.
Speaking about the festival, Bathgate musician Luke la Volpe said;
“It’s absolutely vital that we support grassroots venues at the moment, because let’s face it, life’s shit without gigs. They’ve all had the rug pulled from under them by this whole terrible situation and the longer it goes on the harder it is for them to survive with no money coming in.
The team at Music Venue Trust is working incredibly hard to support them and I’m really happy to be part of Save Our Scottish Venues alongside all these legends. Every single successful musician has been given a hand up by grassroots venues putting them on in front of people who love discovering new music. It’s time to give them a hand in return so every single venue can make it through this incredibly tough period and get the doors open again as soon as possible.”
Beverley Whitrick the Strategic Director for the Music Venue Trust added;
“There are over 60 Scottish members of the Music Venues Alliance, each of which is essential to the music ecosystem as social, economic and cultural hubs within their communities. The love that artists have for these spaces and the people who run them is clear from everyone stepping forward to help raise money to support venues through thecrisis. Please enjoy these events and donate what you can to help.”
For more information on the #saveourvenues and #saveourscottishvenues campaign please visit: www.saveourvenues.co.uk
