Frank Turner: Musician to stream Huddersfield Parish benefit gig

Frank Turner said grassroots venues were vital to the future of live music in the UK

Folk-punk singer Frank Turner is to livestream a benefit gig in aid of a music venue under threat of closure as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Parish, in Huddersfield, has been shut since pubs, clubs and restaurants were ordered to close on 20 March.

Bosses said the venue does not qualify for government help and faced collapse if forced to close for up to 12 weeks.

Turner, who will livestream the gig on Thursday, said he owed a "debt of gratitude" to venues like The Parish.

More than 2,000 bands have performed at The Parish in the past 14 years

"My career exists because I was able to build it in these places and, given the situation that we're all facing now, it seems like the very least I can do to try and repay that," he said.

"These are business that quite often run on margins that exist week to week, or maybe month to month, so facing six, seven weeks of lockdown is catastrophic financially."

Famous for playing live extensively, having performed more than 2,400 shows since beginning his solo career in 2004, Turner has already streamed five benefit gigs from his home since lockdown began.

He said each one had raised at least £10,000 for venues in Southampton, London, Leicester, Winchester and Tunbridge Wells.

We Are Scientists are among the bands to have performed at The Parish

According to the Parish's crowdfunding page, closing the venue for 12 weeks or more "is not something we would survive at all".

Aaron Snowdon, a promoter at the 170-capacity venue, said The Parish would normally put on about 200 gigs annually but since the end of March about 40 had been rescheduled or postponed.

He said the crowdfunding page had so far raised more than £30,000 but that the Frank Turner gig would be the "icing on the cake" of the campaign.

"Live music is a big part of what we do, and as a venue we pride ourselves on that and on keeping live music alive in Huddersfield," he said.

Earlier this week, Turner gave his backing to the Music Venue Trust's Save Our Venues initiative, which hopes to protect the UK's small venues from the effects of the pandemic.

Chief executive of the trust, Mark Davyd, said: "Without the support of music fans and artists, literally hundreds of the UK's grassroots music venues could go out of business, never to return, in the coming months."

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