This week we are celebrating Independent Venue Week, an annual celebration of independent music venues and the people that keep our scene’s ecosystem thriving in the UK.
The importance of IVW is imperative to sustaining music and culture throughout the UK, it gives venues like Albert Hall the opportunity to recognise the vital role smaller venues play to the audiences and artists that come into our hall. From giving artists a chance to play their first gig or aspiring event managers promoting their first event – smaller music venues are the backbone of the UK arts network.
Today, we received a few words from fast rising indie-pop and spoken word artist Antony Szmierek about which independent venues in Manchester have played a pivotal role in shaping his experiences as an up-and-coming artist.
Starting out as an English teacher in Manchester, Antony has only recently pursued music and poetry full-time! He exudes a confident demeanor each time he performs, inspiring optimism in his listener and lacing his poetry with upbeat tempos tempting you to move. His lyrics are thoughtful and attention grabbing, which explains his quick-paced success – some notable performances include Jools Holland, Glastonbury and BBC Radio 6 Music. This is just the beginning on Szmierek’s career and we’re excited to see what is in store for this unique artist plus we’re glad to be a part of this journey when he performs at Albert Hall on the 21st of March – Get your tickets here!
‘People still come to Manchester for its independent venues, to have a pint and catch a band in Night and Day for a tenner, to watch independent groups in the newly refurbished bar space at Band on the Wall etc.
A big one for me as a consumer has always been YES basement. We got to play there in September 2022 and opened a night of emerging talent on a rainy night at 7.30. God bless those 30 or so people that turned up. I remember we were massively excited to be playing a stage we’d seen Los Bitchos play a week before.’
Antony will be performing for IVW at Wrexham’s Rockin’ Chair venue on Friday 2nd February and you can check out Szmierek’s poem dedicated to Independent Venue Week HERE!
