Three day virtual festival at The Picturedrome to aid venue’s fund-raising campaign

Bands, DJs and other musicians will be taking part in a three day ‘virtual festival’ at The Picturedrome this weekend to help promote awareness of the venue’s fund-raising campaign.

The Northampton pub and music venue will be bringing dozens of familiar names to the venue for the event which will be streamed live online.

Music will begin at 5pm tomorrow, Friday June 18, with DJ OP1 before The Ginger Pig Band bring proceedings to a close from 4pm on Sunday.

The Picturedrome owner, Suzy Keeping said: “We’ve been really humbled to see how people have come together for this.

“Fingers crossed people will get behind it. I think we just want to give people a bit of light relief in this tough time and hopefully remind them of the great times we all have together when the venue is open.

“In turn, hopefully people will pledge money on the Crowdfunder packages we have available like bulk buying tickets so we can see them back as soon as possible.”

The Friday will feature live DJs including DJ OP1, Boombastic Events, Mark Dean, Chris Lowrie, Loveshack and Mario & Myles.

The Saturday will be closed by Pure Genius and also feature Slim 47, Accrington Stanley Trio, Brighton Riot, Sean Grew Trio, Point Blank UK, Elliot Williams, Hollie Marie Thompson, Ultimate Coldplay, Joe Church, Tim Winstone, Whiteroom, Wesley Emery and Joe Corkram.

Joining The Ginger Pig Band on the Sunday, will be Frettlyst, Kelly Jane, RePro Jam Squad and Reggae Ray.

Music will take place across two stages in the venue - the main stage and another set up in the bar and restaurant area.

Performances will switch between stages to give crew the chance to properly clean and sanitise the area before the following act comes into set up and perform.

Miss Keeping said: “The acts will use different entrances and exits, everyone arrives one hour before their set and waits outside or in a waiting area and hand sanitiser and masks are available when they come in.

“We have loads of kit kindly supplied by one of our really loyal local promoters who is also doing all the sound and streaming, MOSounds. No one will be using the same microphone for example.”

Earlier this month, The Picturedrome launched a Crowdfunder campaign to help keep the business afloat during closure due to the Coronavirus.

The venue is looking to raise £20,000 and at time of publication has raised £6,725 through 224 donations.

The campaign was originally started by a close group of the venue’s supporters who have also helped arrange the virtual festival.

Crowdfunder appeals allow people to donate any amount, but there are packages linked to different levels of donations.

Miss Keeping and Mr D’alessio purchased the business in 2018 from the Richardsons Group - having both previously worked for the company.

Talking about the idea for the event, Miss Keeping added: “Some of our DJs had been doing a couple of charity streaming sessions from home and then one of our regular bands asked if they could do a gig for their fans from The Picturedrome.

“That went so well they asked if we would be up for doing one in aid of a Crowdfunding initiative for the venue.”

The festival will be streamed across YouTube, Facebook and Twitch.

Full timings are available on its Facebook page.

For more details, visit www.thepicturedrome.com/virtual-festival

To donate towards the venue’s Crowdfunder Campaign, visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-the-picturedrome