Hamish Hawk and Newton Faulkner to play National Lottery tour gigs

Hamish Hawk, Newton Faulkner, Witch Fever and Sleeper are among the acts playing gigs at ‘grassroots’ venues across the region in the coming months as part of the United By Music tour.

The Black Prince in Northampton, Esquires in Bedford and the Craufurd Arms and MK11 in Milton Keynes are all hosting gigs in the coming months.

Across the UK, there will be 150 gigs at 130 venues as part of the initiative which is a partnership between The Music Venue Trust and The National Lottery.

In Northampton, Hamish Hawk will headline The Black Prince on Saturday, August 12, and Newton Faulkner will play the venue on Friday, September 1.

Hawk will also headline Esquires on Monday, August 14, and Faulkner will play on Thursday, August 31.

Esquires will also host Rhoda Daker on Friday, September 1.

At the Craufurd Arms, Witch Fever will headline on Wednesday, August, 16, and Michael Aldag on Tuesday, August 29.

Sleeper will headline MK11 on Thursday, September 7.

The £1.5m grassroots music project is the largest legacy initiative announced so far for Eurovision 2023, providing vital support to live music venues and taking a celebration of Eurovision across the UK.

The initiative was launched with a special free concert for 15,000 people in the Eurovision Village in May and follows the successful delivery of the Liverpool leg of the National Lottery's United By Music Tour that saw iconic artists such as Lightning Seeds, The Coral and Miles Kane playing local venues in support of the live music sector.

This tour comes at a crucial time when many venues across the country are still suffering the fallout from the pandemic and the impact of the cost of living crisis.

Other acts taking part in the tour include Blossoms, Metronomy, Cat Burns, Vlure, October Drift and 86TVs with Sam Ryder and Bloc Party joining the line-up for special, one-off shows.

Speaking about taking part in the tour, Sam Ryder said: "These are the venues where myself and so many of my pals started at and still play.

"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.”

The funds committed to the United By Music tour underwrite the costs of bands' performances and touring costs ensuring venues get artists at no cost to them.Every National Lottery player who purchases a ticket has got the chance to bring a ‘plus one’ for free to each show. Additional tickets are available during the online ordering process.

To qualify for this offer, attendees are required to bring any National Lottery product when they attend the gig.

Tickets for all gigs are on sale now via https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/united-by-music/artist/5416319 which also has full T&Cs.