TVAM, Steve Mason and Skinny Living to play Black Prince when Independent Venue Week returns

Independent Venue Week returns next year and The Black Prince has already announced six gigs as part of the annual event which aims to champion grassroots music venues across the country.

This year, Skinny Living, Hotel Lux, Empyre, Ten Tonnes, TVAM and Steve Mason will all play headline gigs at the Northampton venue.

Independent Venue Week (IVW) is the UK’s annual seven-day celebration of independent music and arts venues and the people that own, run and work in them. It returns from Monday, January 29, to Sunday, February 4.

Talking about IVW and the importance of it to the Abington Square venue in Northampton, promotions manager Phil Moore said: “It’s basically a week-long festival now, six nights of music in one location in a town that usually doesn't offer such a thing.

“Having a nationally-profiled initiative available to us is a fantastic resource.

“It really does highlight the work we do week in week out at the grassroots level in pushing live music to the local populace.

“Being a ‘tertiary market’, a ‘regional’ place, let’s face it an ‘unfashionable place’, it is often a slog to get attention on what we do. IVW does really cut through that by placing us front and centre in the UK music world.”

Skinny Living will headline The Black Prince on Tuesday, January 30, followed by Hotel Lux on Wednesday, January 31, and Empyre on Thursday, February 1.

Ten Tonnes will play on Friday, February 2, TVAM on Saturday, February 3 and Steve Mason on Sunday, February 4.

Talking about this year’s line-up, Mr Moore said: “Skinny Living are a vocal harmony trio who have recently supported Gabrielle on tour.

“Hotel Lux on the Wednesday are a south London post-punk sextet with a beautifully skewed worldview and excellent live show.

“Thursday is local hard rock heroes Empyre returning to hopefully once again sell out the room.

“Friday is Ten Tonnes, the indie-pop songwriter par excellence looking to build on his debut top 40 album performance.

“TVAM on the Saturday will be boundary-pushing excitement, as they mix electronica and psychedelica to stunning effect.

“Then, on the Sunday it’s the ‘legends’ slot, as Beta Band founder Steve Mason brings his exploratory indie-tronica to our place for what will surely be a memorable finale.”

This year, The Black Prince has hosted more than 100 gigs, club nights, comedy nights and book launches.

Asked to pick his highlight of the year, Mr Moore singles out headline gigs by The Subways, Newton Faulkner, BC Camplight and Opus Kink as what he describes as “wow” nights.

Adding: “It's a gradual progression, winning the artists, the industry and the public over step by step.

“That we were once again voted Venue Of The Year at the Northamptonshire Local Music Awards must mean we're doing some things right.”

In 2023, IVW celebrated its 10th anniversary with more than 1,000 shows over the week by artists including Philip Selway, beabadoobee, Young Fathers, Suede, Pip Blom, The Bug Club and many many others.

As part of a long-running partnership with BBC Radio 6 Music it enjoyed high profile coverage across the week, with DJ Steve Lamacq broadcasting ‘on the road’ from five venues.

More than one million tickets have been sold to IVW shows since 2014, providing independent venues with a positive start to the year.

The director of Arts Council England, Claire Mera-Nelson, said: “The importance of independent, grassroots music venues to the local and artistic communities they serve is greater than ever.

“Independent Venue Week has long been a vital ingredient in the success of England’s grassroots live music sector, showcasing brilliant independent venues and fantastic artists across the country each year.

“IVW’s recent impact report demonstrates their strong commitment to supporting new and diverse artists and audiences to participate in, and engage with, live music.

“It also demonstrates the value of music venues to their communities and it is particularly positive to see venues in Levelling Up for Culture and Priority Places joining the initiative.

“We’re delighted to be supporting the 11th iteration of Independent Venue Week and the wider sector development work delivered by Independent Venue Community.”

For more information about Independent Venue Week, visit https://independentvenueweek.com/uk

Tickets for all gigs at The Black Prince are available via https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Northampton/The-Black-Prince