Monday, 31st July 2023 Mercury-nominated, alt-pop four-piece The Big Moon has announced that they will be joining The National Lottery’s United By Music Tour with Music Venue Trust.
The band will perform ten special shows in intimate venues across the country, to support Grassroots Music Venues amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. This includes a special performance on 11th September at Independent in Sunderland. Avid supporters of Grassroots Music Venues, The Big Moon are the most recent addition to the line-up; this month legendary British 2Tone artist Rhoda Dakar, Glaswegian post-punk band VLURE, and rising singer-songwriter Michael Aldag have also announced tours of GMVs.
With one grassroots music venue closing each week, the tour has already seen Blossoms, Cat Burns, Metronomy and Bloc Party return to their roots to highlight the importance of these local venues as part of the music industry’s wider ecosystem, and as important local cultural hubs. The final headliner, Sam Ryder, will be performing a one-off, intimate show at Chinnerys in Southend on 8th September. The tour also sees a range of artists, from established acts like The Big Moon to newcomers, embark on tours across the UK that aim to include venues and towns that are often overlooked on traditional touring routes.
The United By Music Tour, organised by the charity Music Venue Trust and funded by The National Lottery started in June and is running until late September. Rhoda Dakar, alongside other established acts including Sleeper and Newton Faulkner and a host of new acts, are touring the country playing 150 gigs at 130 grassroots music venues across the UK. Every ticket buyer can take a guest with them for free (just by showing a lottery product) which makes the already cheap tickets even more affordable. See unitedbymusic.live for all tour dates and tickets.
Speaking on the tour, vocalist Juliette Jackson said:
“We are so excited to go out on this tour! These smaller venues are so crucial to the UK’s musical landscape – they give new artists a vital space to learn and hone their craft and enter the world of live music at an accessible level. We need to protect these places to keep new music coming.”
The Big Moon will be performing at:
5th Sept – Tunbridge Wells Forum
6th Sept – Bath Moles
8th Sept – Swansea Hanger
9th Sept – Stoke Sugarmill
11th Sept – Sunderland Independent
12th Sept – Galashiels MacArts Theatre
13th Sept – Dunfermline PJ Molloys
15th Sept – Kendal Brewery Arts
16th Sept – York Crescent Community Venue
17th Sept – Bedford Esquires
During Covid, Music Venue Trust managed to prevent the closure of all 900+ venues that they represent. However, the increasing severity of the cost-of-living crisis has resulted in multiple venues closing every month, with the latest stats pointing to 66 closures within the last year. This staggering figure continues at a rate of one venue a week.
Every Grassroots Music Venue that closes represents one less place where local communities can access affordable live music, decreased opportunities for new and emerging artists to perform live and fewer opportunities for event professionals to learn their trade.
The United By Music Tour is part of an existing partnership between The National Lottery and Music Venue Trust that aims to ensure live music is accessible to all. This has previously been achieved through previous tours (The Revive Live Tours), which saw the same two-for-one ticket deal for lottery players.
See unitedbymusic.live for dates and tickets