Gwenno and rEDOLENT have been announced as ambassadors for the 2025 edition of Independent Venue Week.
The seven-day celebration of independent music and arts venues is returning, running from January 27 to February 2, with hundreds of live shows to take place across the UK.
Singer-songwriter and Mercury Prize nominee Gwenno has been named as the ambassador for Wales, and will play a special solo show at Cardiff’s Acapela Studio on January 29.
Edinburgh band rEDOLENT, meanwhile, who recently picked up the Scottish Album of the Year for their debut album ‘Dinny Greet’, will be the ambassadors for Scotland, will also play an exclusive show during the week’s festivities.
Independent venues have until Friday (December 6) to sign up to participate in Independent Venue Week, while fans can explore what shows will be happening near them here.
We’re so happy to reveal Gwenno and rEDOLENT as our Artist Ambassadors for Wales and Scotland
They are joining our overall Artist Ambassador, YolanDa Brown OBE DL.
Read the full story here: https://t.co/ilZHzi6UP5
Supported by Welsh Government via Creative Wales pic.twitter.com/V69r8f55sK
— Independent Venue Week (@IVW_UK) December 2, 2024
Gwenno and rEDOLENT join overall artist ambassador YolanDa Brown for the 2025 event.
Speaking about her involvement, Gwenno has said: “I’m delighted to be this year’s IVW Welsh Ambassador, having spent so much of my musical life playing and going to gigs at independent venues across Wales and beyond for the past 25+ years.”
“I’m so looking forward to performing at the beautiful Acapela in Pentyrch, a venue that I’ve heard so much about and have always wanted to play. I’ll be playing a stripped-back solo piano set of old and new material with a few surprises here and there, and make sure to get down early for the wonderfully elusive ambient solo traveller Dean Lligwy, as well as Welsh music icon Pat Morgan of the band Datblygu for a special solo set.”
Andrew Turnbull of rEDOLENT said: “One of my most memorable gigs was when I was 17 and went to see The Xcerts at Sneaky Pete’s. They had just released their second album, ‘Scatterbrain’, which remains one of my favourite albums to this day. Sneaky Pete’s, though a smaller venue, has an incredible vibe, and I felt so lucky to get a ticket – it felt like a smaller setting for a band as big as The Xcerts.”
“The show was one of the most intense and exciting shows I’ve experienced. The crowd hung on every word during the quiet parts of the songs, and the silence in those moments felt intimate and special. It’s a night I’ll never forget.”
Sybil Bell, the CEO and founder of Independent Venue Week, added: “We’re over the moon to welcome Gwenno and rEDOLENT as our Welsh and Scottish Ambassadors. Alongside YolanDa Brown, they typify the kind of broad and innovative music culture that thrives in independent venues all across the UK.”
“One of our biggest aims for IVW is to kickstart the new year with a wave of live shows that encourage fans to come out, buy a ticket, visit their local venue and have an amazing night out. It’s imperative that we support these unique spaces and the artists who appear on their stages all year round, and getting out in January is the best way to kick that support off.”
Since launching in 2014, more than one million tickets have been sold for Independent Venue Week events, boosting the plight of the struggling grassroots live music economy.
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