The National Lottery and Music Venue Trust Announce United By Music Tour of Liverpool to Celebrate Eurovision 

Jamie Webster, Lightning Seeds and Miles Kane are among the artists to perform special one-off shows in support of grassroots music venues  

See unitedbymusic.live for dates and tickets  

The National Lottery and leading UK charity Music Venue Trust has today announced a United By Music Tour of Liverpool during the week of Eurovision. The tour will see over 20 gigs at 20 music venues across Liverpool to celebrate the city’s hosting of the world’s biggest music event, to showcase the city’s iconic music scene and to support the grassroots music venues that remain the lifeblood of UK music. 

Taking place in the week of Eurovision (May 8-12) the gigs will see a diverse range of headline artists from Liverpool, in iconic music venues across the city, including; Jamie Webster at Phase One, Miles Kane at Jacaranda, Lightning Seeds at The Cavern, the CRAWLERS at Jimmy’s, and The Mysterines at The Caledonia, with all tickets available on a 2-for-1 basis to National Lottery players. The band performing at Futureyard will be announced on May 2. 

Alongside these events, Music Venue Trust and National Lottery will be celebrating the very best new acts the city has to offer, at venues including Meraki, E.B.G.B.S and the Kazimier, with the aim of providing a whole week of music that is uniquely Liverpool, one of the world’s leading music cities. 

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 bring any National Lottery product when they attend the gig.  

Tickets for The National Lottery’s United by Music Tour of Liverpool go on sale tonight from 6pm.  

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.  

Mark Dayvd, CEO of Music Venue Trust said, “Our work with The National Lottery across the last 3 years has created hundreds of new events right across the country, taking music to tens of thousands of people right on their doorstep. We are thrilled to be partnering with the team at The National Lottery again to create an event that really speaks to the history and the future of one of the UK’s greatest music cities – Liverpool. This is an event that doesn’t just celebrate Liverpool’s musical history, it’s highlighting the next wave of exceptional talent the world will come to know and love.” 

 The United by Music Tour of Liverpool is another way for The National Lottery to say thank you to the £330M players have contributed to over 3,600 music and cultural projects in Liverpool alone. 

(The Lightning Seeds)

The Lightning Seeds – Ian Broudie

“We are very excited to play the legendary Cavern Club!

Growing up in Liverpool, I saw so many inspiring artists in Eric’s and playing there myself meant everything to me.

I would have had no career without that grounding. Grassroots venues really are that important. 

The UK has always been a world leader in producing brilliant artists, and that’s down to the great infrastructure of venues in so many towns and cities.

There is probably no better example of that than the story of the Beatles and the Cavern, so we are really thrilled to be playing there in support of the Music Venue Trust.”

(Crawlers)

Crawlers

“For bands/artists starting, grassroots venues are extremely important and fundamental for their development. It’s the first time you can feel an audience’s reception for new music, as well as grow in confidence for performing. We developed our first personas, performance styles and crowd engagement by playing sometimes three times a week in grassroots venues, most notably EBGBS in Liverpool and Percy’s in Whitchurch!

 They also allow artists to tour more freely with independent promoters or otherwise, as they can perform in cities/towns with a freer environment to tap into the scene of each city to grow fans, or if the artist/bands have fans to engage with on tour they don’t feel as much pressure with playing larger venues. 

 As well as this, they provide the city/town with a culture and scene that many people want to get involved in, whether this is with performances (not just music, but poetry nights, open mic nights and even other types of events) or attending and engaging in shows. 

 The disappearance of grassroots venues and support in them is resulting in a lack of scenes, loss of upcoming talent and cities cultures – supporting independent grassroots venues supports comers, and so many integral artists who inspire those who were allowed these places to develop their craft, and anyone attending these shows in these venues could be seeing the next big thing.“

(Mysterines)

Mysterines

“We grew up watching some of our favourite artists playing small, grassroots venues and then developed our talents as musicians playing in the same sort of venues.  It isn’t that long ago for us but when we were offered the opportunity to play at the Caledonia we thought it would be a great opportunity to go back to our roots.  Can’t wait to play a small, packed venue and remember the great times we had as young musicians, always good to give back to these vital venues”

Jamie Webster

“Grassroots venues are massively important because it’s where artists like myself learn to practice the craft. It’s where I learned to control crowds, it’s where I learned about live performance, it’s where I learned how to deliver the songs in a way that connects with people and it pays dividends to what comes next once you’ve put in the groundwork at these venues.

 I’ve been supported from the ground up and some of my most favourite memories and some of my fans’ most favourite memories come from these grassroots venues. It’s more important than anything really, more important than any amount of money. Cities need the cultural art entertainment hubs to thrive, and I wouldn’t be the artist that I am today if it wasn’t for grassroots venues.

Phase One in particular is important to me because in my last album campaign, they helped me out with a lot of album sales really in the city. It’s just a lovely place to be and I’m excited to be playing there in front of an intimate crowd. I always think that the smaller gigs are the best for certain feelings and certain connections. I’m looking forward to all of that.”

Details of the full schedule can be found below.

Monday, May 8 – (band to be announced on May 2) at Futureyard 

Tuesday, May 9 – Jamie Webster at Phase One 

Tuesday, May 9 – Lightning Seeds at The Cavern 

Wednesday, May 10 – The Mysterines at The Caledonia 

Thursday, May 11 – CRAWLERS at Jimmy’s 

Friday, May 12 – Miles Kane at Jacaranda

All venue quotes

“We are delighted to be hosting a hometown show with The Lightning Seeds as part of the National Lottery’s United By Music campaign. Supporting the live music sector is hugely important. The Cavern Club may have a worldwide reputation, but we are still a grassroots music venue supporting live music and new, original artists.”Jon Keats, Director at The Cavern Club

“We are thrilled to be involved in this initiative, in what will be an incredible series of live shows. The partnership between Music venue Trust and The National Lottery has been a really fruitful and positive one, providing a much-needed lifeline to grassroots live music with the #ReviveLive tours that helped us get back on our feet after Covid. We’re really looking forward to celebrating such an exciting period of live music with this latest initiative, as the spotlight falls on the region for Eurovision. We’ll play our part in showing the world why the Liverpool City Region is a world leader when it comes to music, right through from performers to production to punters.”Christopher Torpey, Communications Director at Future Yard.

(Miles Kane)

”Music Venue Trusts is a brilliant organisation, which has become the bedrock of supporting the grassroots live music sector. It’s a real pleasure and an honour to be a part of the fantastic shows MVT and The National Lottery are bringing to the city to celebrate Eurovision – especially amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. We can’t wait to share this unique experience of having Arena level acts , coming back to the venues which supported them so early in their careers with their loyal fanbase. ”Veso Mihaylov, Head of Events at Jacaranda Records, Phase One, EBGBS & The Jacaranda Club

For more information on The National Lottery’s United By Music Tour of Liverpool, please visit: www.unitedbymusic.live 

See www.unitedbymusic.live for dates and tickets