In this week's newsletter:
- Floor-filling rave punk is the order of the day for Track Of The Week
- Inside the business rates relief pubs and live music venues were granted this week
- Could we see more artists cancel their US tours?
Imagine a room where everyone's jumping as if they had both a shared mind and a shared soul, where a mosh pit has yawned open and very few people are capturing anything on their phones. It's not as rare as it might seem. It's what I took in when I went to the Amersham Arms in New Cross, south-east London on Tuesday night to see Nova Twins put on a stellar showing for just 300 people.
It's not that dissimilar to where I was almost four years ago, when my 21-year-old self wandered awkwardly around Birmingham's Moor Street trying to find a bus to take to the Castle and Falcon. I'd never been to a gig by myself - and neither had I sat on a bus to get there, to an area of Birmingham that I'm told is not the nicest. These were only small impediments. I was going to see Nova Twins and nobody could tell me I couldn't.
At the time, the duo had only released one album, and their traction had begun to properly accelerate. It was one of my earliest experiences of grassroots music, and one of the experiences that's aged the best. Now, they're omnipresent, spreading joy and unity wherever they go and calling for change from even bigger stages - and they're ambassadors for everything good, including Amnesty International, Music Minds Matter and now, Independent Venue Week.
Independent Venue Week, which is unfolding as we speak across 236 of the UK's grassroots venues, have organised a stacked programme of shows with the aim of showcasing the magic within their walls. For Nova Twins, it was a full circle moment too. This venue was where they played growing up and honing their craft - bassist Georgia South even played a show there on her 18th birthday, in the same room where she had her first legal pint. This was the room that made them. So many artists will have had a space like that, to play around, mess up, have fun and connect with the faces staring back at them.
The audiences are special. There's always a joyous fizz in the air at a Nova Twins show, but it struck a different tone in the Amersham Arms compared to their far bigger Kentish Town Forum show in October. They have a friendly fanbase as it is, but the atmosphere was warmer somehow in an intimate pub basement than a chain venue. The sense of togetherness poured through even during support act Ashaine White's set, punters near the back gently cheering her on as she spoke to the crowd, and as she played the moving 'I Sing To Myself' - tenderly capturing the helplessness of watching world tragedy through a screen - the silence and reverence was powerful. I've been in enough corporate chain venues to know this atmosphere is exclusively the preserve of communal, independent spaces.
If you're getting gig envy from this, there's still time to get involved - click here to see what's going on this week in your local area for Independent Venue Week 2026.
Jack from Tickets For Good and The Ticket Bank is on the podcast
A gig is a perfect escape from the strains of daily life - but not everyone has the financial means to drop their worries outside the venue door. This is where two fantastic initiatives come in, with Tickets For Good offering gig tickets to NHS workers, teachers, and carers and the Ticket Bank designed for fans on low incomes.
Jack explains how the infrastructure works who it serves, and why more artists and venues need to get involved, as well as touring economics, dynamic pricing myths, and the uncomfortable reality that an industry generating billions still prices out the people who need culture most.
You can subscribe and listen for free on Apple | Podbean | Pocket Casts | Podcast Addict | or wherever you get your podcasts.
Track of the Week
'Aux Romanticiser' by The Itch
Do you fancy a dance this week? I rather warmed to the zany floor-filling energy of this new song by rising Luton dance-punk duo The Itch, which combines the fizzing feeling of late night hedonism with a quirky, nostalgic twist. Lyrically, it speaks irreverently of the giddiness of plugging in the aux cable and becoming your own DJ, subjecting everyone around to your idea of the perfect playlist. It sits somewhere in the cross-section between the sounds of LCD Soundsystem, The Dare and Lynks and if that sounds like your cup of tea, their debut album It's The Hope That Kills You is out on 10th April.
Music venues and pubs get business rates help - but is it enough?
The changes to business rates outlined by Rachel Reeves in the budget could have spelled the death knell for some pubs and live music venues, but in a bid to avoid widespread closures and job losses, the Treasury has provided a support package worth tens of millions of pounds. Every pub or venue will get 15 per cent off its business rates bill from 1st April and for the next two years, bills will be frozen (in real terms) for the next two years.
Clearly, the backlash against the policies has translated into positive change, but for some, this U-turn doesn't go far enough. The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) said it was merely "a drop in the ocean" given how many concerns it has that haven't been addressed over things like licensing fees and alcohol duty.
“This policy position is frankly baffling. Pubs, bars, nightclubs, live music venues and cultural spaces are all part of the same fragile ecosystem, facing the same structural challenges and carrying the same disproportionate tax burdens. To support one part while ignoring the rest is not just short-sighted, it is fundamentally disconnected from how this industry actually operates."
The Music Venue Trust's statement was more positive, saying it "warmly welcomes today’s government statement on urgent and immediate Business Rate relief." They added that they will explore with their Music Venues Alliance venue members "if the proposed 15% reduction in rates payable, followed by a freeze for 2 years, is sufficient to manage this crisis".
The first of many cancelled US tours?
What do you do when one of your biggest touring markets is an authoritarian hellscape? This week marked the first time I'd seen an artist cancel a US tour over the current state of the country, namely feminist 'brat punk' artist Delilah Bon. She explained in a video posted to Instagram that she believed the tour could put her, her touring party and her fans' safety at risk, especially those who are undocumented and could thus be targeted in ICE raids.
It's perfectly understandable, and a horrendous choice to have to make, but this speaks devastating volumes about how evil the US has become if a queer feminist artist cannot come there and provide an hour or so of catharsis, community and hope. I'm wholly expecting more artists to do the same. All the love and solidarity with Delilah.
Is a reckoning on the way for Live Nation?
Association of Independent Festivals
The window has just closed for evidence relating to a parliamentary inquiry into competition and market functioning in the UK Live Music Industry. If there's enough strong evidence that goes far enough, it could lead to an investigation by the CMA into whether Live Nation, which holds a monopoly, is abusing its market power.
The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has brought evidence to the inquiry and is arguing that Live Nation's market dominance "restricts competition, inflates prices, limits access to culture, stifles creativity, and delivers poor outcomes for both industry and audiences."
If you've felt priced out as a fan by the cost of tickets to larger gigs, some very interesting developments could be on the way.
Hopeful story
Could Harry Styles adding the grassroots levy be a game-changer?
As we mentioned last week, Mark Davyd's speech at the launch of the Music Venue Trust's annual report called out Live Nation for dragging their feet when it came to implementing the grassroots levy. Now, however, we might be getting some movement. Harry Styles' eight Wembley Stadium shows taking place in June, which are being promoted by Live Nation, are participating in the grassroots levy.
If they keep this up with more major shows, given their market power, the levy will have far more chance of success. And, if that wasn't a big enough supply of good news, Styles' shows are also supporting humanitarian aid organisation Choose Love, who he has been working with for the last decade.
Elsewhere, Enter Shikari's November arena tour, which is also being promoted by Live Nation, will once again carry the grassroots levy.
Emma Wilkes
As part of our partnership with Qobuz - the service for music enthusiasts featuring high quality sound so that we can rediscover music - we create a companion playlist for each episode of our podcast. Listen to this week's playlist, which is a 101 Part Time Jobs special with tunes from Peaches, The National, and kicking things off is our track of the week
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