We are no nearer live music returning and, as venues across the country face financial collapse, it’s clear that even when we reach some sort of "new normal", far from all will be left standing. This is clearly a disaster for British music. #SaveOurVenues offers an opportunity to help over 500 UK venues stay alive: details here. In the meantime, as ever, there's still plenty happening online. Check out these three.
Cambridge Folk at Home
The Cambridge Folk Festival is one of Britain’s oldest but, like every other green field event, they’ve been kyboshed by COVID. However, in conjunction with BBC Radio 2 (and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire), they’ve arranged a weekend for their devotees. Radio 2 will be playing suitable folk fare all weekend, including new lockdown sets from Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Suzanne Vega, Kate Rusby, and Fisherman’s Friends, while on BBC Cambridgeshire the festival’s virtual choir, led by singer Bella Hardy, will be performing; on their Facebook page are interviews and talks with Fatoumata Diawara and Sam Lee, as well as storytelling and a “movement workshop”. Those actually based in Cambridge will also have access to many of the festival’s caterers who are delivering or actually on the streets. It runs from Thursday July 30 to Sunday August 2: details here.
Dermot Kennedy: Some Summer Night
Irish singer-songwriter star Dermot Kennedy has gathered a devoted following over the last couple of years, culminating in streams totalling over a billion and his debut album topping the charts at the end of 2019. He now presents a special live-streamed concert from the Natural History Museum on Thursday July 30 at 21.00 (tickets available for £13.50 here). He will be playing with a full band, presenting fresh arrangements of his songs, and there will be an appearance by Paul Mescal, lead actor in recent TV sensation Normal People. Kennedy’s tour of this summer, meanwhile, has been rescheduled for April/May next year.
Lolla2020
Lollapalooza has graduated from being America’s primary travelling alt-rock carnival of the 1990s, to an annual Chicago extravaganza (with subsidiaries around the world). This year, of course, it must take yet another form, which is a free four-night YouTube event, kicking off at 23.00 on Thursday July 30, with some material available afterwards. It will mainly be archive sets from the likes of Cypress Hill, Lorde, Kehlani, LCD Soundsystem, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Run the Jewels and tens of others, but there will also be a few brand new performances. In between sets there will be in-conversation segments featuring Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell, LL Kool J, Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, and others. Details here.
