Woodwind Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 I wanted to see how originals acts around the UK are finding the live scene this year. I'm based in London which skews my view slightly as there have been closures of some great venues. I'm in the process of booking a few shows around the UK to tie in with my next release and frankly I'm finding it harder than ever before. From 2022 onwards I realised there would be fewer shows, but there had been a considerable step up in quality in what was on offer which was a fantastic boost, but this is not the case so far this year. I'm not finding many shows I want to go to as an audience member either. Interested in experiences, opinions and hopefully some optimism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smalls Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 We've got 4 consecutive weekend gigs from 20th April (Malvern, Hereford, Wellington, Nottingham - all decent supports), 1 in June (multi band Not the Vicars Tea Party, Gloucester), then 2 in July (Ludlow and Hereford, both good supports again), small festival in Pwhelli in September and a headline in November in Hereford (again!). Most of them are on the punk circuit, though at Pwhelli we're the only originals band on and Ludlow is supporting a ska band. Expecting more as well though I don't want to over-do it! But only 1 is within a half-hour of home... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodwind Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 9 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said: We've got 4 consecutive weekend gigs from 20th April (Malvern, Hereford, Wellington, Nottingham - all decent supports), 1 in June (multi band Not the Vicars Tea Party, Gloucester), then 2 in July (Ludlow and Hereford, both good supports again), small festival in Pwhelli in September and a headline in November in Hereford (again!). Most of them are on the punk circuit, though at Pwhelli we're the only originals band on and Ludlow is supporting a ska band. Expecting more as well though I don't want to over-do it! But only 1 is within a half-hour of home... This is what I want to hear. Excellent run of shows! People I know in my neck of the woods (various types of music) seem to be having the same issues as me so it's great to see people gigging regularly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 (edited) We've got loads! Our gig list is here but there are loads more that haven't been announced yet https://headsticks.co.uk/gigs EDIT: There have been a few cancellations due to low ticket sales. That seemed to start last year. Nervy promoters in my opinion as every gig that's gone ahead seems well attended to me Edited April 10 by cheddatom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 (edited) We (The Spacewasters) have a few, not too many and quite well spaced apart which suits me well, the next being at The 100 Club in Oxford St tomorrow night supporting The Polecats and King Kurt. This will be the 4th gig this year and all have been well attended so originals on the punky/psychobilly scene still going good. Edited April 10 by Lozz196 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolverinebass Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 I think it's when you get into stuff that's quite niche that you have problems. He says in 2 progressive metal bands. When you're in a wide genre, great. If you kind of skirt round it a bit more or are a small percentage of it, not so much. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 All good here. We’re picking up new venues on a regular basis, and there seems to be a healthy rock/metal scene with loads of young bands around. Brilliant for us, and we seem to have some sort of appeal with a younger crowd who are into our old school NWOBHM vibes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelDean Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 I think we're doing alright for just getting going. Played 2 in Bristol so far, got another 3 (Newport, Bristol and Swindon) coming up. The Newport one came up as we sent a load of messages to other bands to drum up some gigs. One of the ones we messaged had to pull out and suggested we play. And then they offered us the Swindon gig to play with them too! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 11 hours ago, MichaelDean said: I think we're doing alright for just getting going. Played 2 in Bristol so far, got another 3 (Newport, Bristol and Swindon) coming up. The Newport one came up as we sent a load of messages to other bands to drum up some gigs. One of the ones we messaged had to pull out and suggested we play. And then they offered us the Swindon gig to play with them too! Love this!! Whether originals or covers I always thought it good practice if we can't do a gig to refer another band we know. That way you help out the venue, whether they've booked you and you had to cancel or whether they offer you dates you can't do, and helped out another band. What goes around comes around so if we all take this approach we should eventually receive what we give. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 (edited) One band is mostly concentrating on writing and recording our next album, but we still have a number of decent gigs lined up including WGW and Infest. The other band has already done some pretty good gigs this year including HRH Goth 2 at the Leicester O2 Academy, and last night's gig opening for Empathy Test. Coming up we have WGW (as well), and places on several other festivals later in the year booked already. We have our London debut this weekend. It helps that both bands fit into the post-punk/goth genre which has a good number of decent promotors and venues especially up north. One of the best gigs is Carpe Noctum in Leeds which is so popular that unless a band drops out, neither of my bands are likely to be playing there before 2025! Edited April 11 by BigRedX 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyb625 Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 Our gig list is pretty sparse for this year, with only 4 booked at the moment. We've been trying to get on to some of the bigger Americana festivals (Black Deer, Long Road, Ramblin' Roots) but we're getting nowhere unfortunately. It's a little disheartening to be honest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigeJ Posted April 11 Share Posted April 11 As a death metal band, we're doing quite well for gigs so far this year. Got six definite, plus, were getting offers from promoters/venues/bands pretty often. I haven't played outside of the metal scene for a long time, so couldn't say on other genres. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.