A BRIDGWATER music venue will host a concert by punk group Witch Fever as part a nationwide legacy project for Eurovision 2023.

The Manchester four-piece will perform at The Cobblestones in Eastover on September 7 under the United by Music tour.

The tour has been launched as a partnership between The National Lottery and the Music Venue Trust.

The initiative will see household names and up-and-comers perform 150 shows at 130 grassroots music venues. 

The largest legacy initiative announced so far after the Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Liverpool will provide vital support to live music venues.

Blossoms, Metronomy and Cat Burns among artists set to perform special one-off shows in support of the tour. 

All tickets to be 2-for-1 for National Lottery players to thank them for their ongoing support of The Music Venue Trust.

The initiative was launched with a special free concert for 15,000 people in the Eurovision Village on Wednesday night.

It follows the successful delivery of the Liverpool leg of the National Lottery’s United By Music Tour.

The announcement takes The National Lottery contribution to grassroots venues through the United By Music Tour to £1.5m and comes at a crucial time when many venues are still suffering the fallout from the pandemic and the impact of the cost of living crisis.

Speaking about taking part in the tour, Blossoms said: “Without grassroots venues there would’ve been nowhere for us to perform, grow and develop as a live act.

“The future of live music relies on every single small venue across the country and we’re really pleased to be able to show our support for all of them by playing this show at the Parish in Huddersfield.”

Louise Wener of Sleeper, who will play 12 gigs from Dumfries to Dover, said: “All those amazing grassroots venues allowed Sleeper to grow. Touring the country, crowds right in front of our faces, it’s how we learned to be a live band.

“They’re part of our history. Part of every great band’s history.”

Every National Lottery player who purchased a ticket will be invited to bring a “plus one” for free - all they need to do to qualify for this offer is to bring any National Lottery product when they attend the gig.

Ian Broudie, whose band Lightning Seeds performed as part of the Liverpool leg of the United By Music Tour and played in the Fan Village to help launch the UK wide initiative, said: “The atmosphere in Liverpool has been incredible and it’s been great to see old and new fans alike come down to not only support us, but the music venues we’ve performed in.”

This is the third year The National Lottery has partnered with Music Venue Trust, underwriting the full touring and production costs of artists participating.

Mark Dayvd, CEO of Music Venue Trust said: “Following the success of the Liverpool Tour, which saw us host a week-long series of music gigs across the city, we are delighted to be partnering with The National Lottery again to extend the celebrations to the rest of the UK.

“Supporting grassroots music venues has never been more important and we're delighted to be using venues across the country to highlight new and established artists the world will come to know and love.”

For the schedule of gigs and for more information on The National Lottery’s United By Music UK Tour, please visit: unitedbymusic.live