Law firm Irwin Mitchell is to advise on a new venture called ‘Passport: Back to Our Roots’ which will see major music acts, including Elbow, Everything Everything, Public Service Broadcasting and The Slow Readers Club, perform one-off intimate gigs designed to secure the survival of small grassroots venues across the UK. Reports The Business Desk
The brainchild of Sally Cook, director of operations at Band on the Wall, and Stephen Budd, creator of War Child’s Passport: Back to the Bars and Passport: to BRITs Week series, Passport: Back to Our Roots has partnered with the charity Music Venue Trust to raise funds to safeguard the futures of grassroots music venues struggling to survive the COVID-19 crisis.
The project will launch on August 17, when the public will be invited to make donations to support grassroots music venues.
Supporters of the campaign can choose to be entered into a draw to win passes for themselves and a guest to an intimate gig and will raise much-needed funds for venues affected by the coronavirus lockdown. Further artists and gigs will be announced over the coming months.
Elbow, from Bury, will be returning to Night and Day, three decades after they first performed at the Manchester venue, and dates for all of the events will be confirmed when it is safe to perform the shows at grassroots music venues with no social distancing.
Guy Garvey of Elbow said “This is a simple way of looking after the very roots of British music, and will result in some powerful, joyous shows when we can at last see each other again. I’m very proud to be involved.”
The Media and Entertainment team at Irwin Mitchell has been appointed to provide contractual, commercial and regulatory legal advice to Inner City Music, the charity behind Band on the Wall.
