GRASSROOTS VENUE TOUR STARTS

Sam Ryder, pictured, and Bloc Party have joined the National Lottery and Music Venue Trust’s United by Music Tour of 150 gigs in 130 grassroots music venues.

“These are the venues where I and so many of my pals started and still play,” Ryder said. “They are crucial for young artists getting into the music industry to be able to experiment across the entire spectrum of musical genres and to go out and cut their teeth in front of real-life people and create connections that live in the physical world. Can’t wait to come sing my head off with you all and celebrate what music is all about—connection.” Ryder will perform at Chinnerys in Southend on 9/8.

The tour starts Tuesday (6/27) with Amber Run at Epic in Norwich. Bloc Party is booked at The Hairy Dog in Derby on 7/20.

National tours will feature more than 20 artists, including Ed Harcourt, 86TVs, Hamish Hawk, Lily Moore, Newton Faulkner and Noah & the Loners, with all tickets available on a 2-for-1 basis to National Lottery players as a thank-you for their support.

Blossoms, Metronomy and Cat Burns, among others, will play one-off shows to highlight the importance of grassroots music venues.

This outing takes The National Lottery’s contribution to grassroots venues through the United by Music Tour to £1.5m, which comes at a time when many venues are still suffering the fallout from the pandemic and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. Funds committed underwrite the costs of performance and touring, ensuring that venues are able to secure artists at no cost to them. This is also the single-biggest legacy initiative announced to date for Eurovision 2023.