Summer of Live Online Festival Launch

The event is being organised to raise money for the MU’s Coronavirus Hardship Fund, which distributes money directly to musicians in immediate financial difficulties.

This will be the first in a series of online music events in the coming months – all to be hosted by guest presenters and featuring artists from across the industry – and will take place from 2:00 pm on our @WeAreTheMU Instagram channel.

Featured talent in the first event

Penfriend is the new project of Bristol's Laura Kidd, an innovative, independent solo artist and favourite of BBC Radio 6 Music. She has built a hugely loyal fanbase and a friendly musical community with her correspondent's club and launched her latest project on lockdown, playing and recording everything herself from her home studio 'The Launch Pad.’ Laura’s new podcast 'Attention Engineer’ launched two weeks ago, featuring weekly deep diving conversations with the likes of Frank Turner and Tanya Donelly.

Jack Curley is a 21 year old singer from Manchester. He started playing live gigs and open mic nights at about 15 years old and fell in love with performing live. He went to BIMM, was thrown out within a few months, but was spotted by a manager at a gig, signed to a German imprint and has now been picked up by a major label. His heartfelt lyrics and exceptional vocal range are the showpieces of his latest Tomorrow EP.

Prima is part of the Midication family and she performed at Reading and Leeds Festival on the BBC Introducing stage last year. She is a firm BBC Radio 1Xtra favourite and more recently performed for United We Stream in Manchester. Her stunning voice and smooth R&B grooves are truly infectious.

Kinkai takes influence from his Jamaican and Sierra Leonean roots, his ear attuned to a wide range of genres including African music, reggae, jazz and hip hop. His discography is heartfelt, and he is establishing a reputation as a witty wordsmith who is a bonafide gem of the UK underground HipHop scene.

Schedule or performances

The scheduled performance times on Sunday 21 June are:

• 2:00 pm – Kinkai
• 2:45 pm – Prima
• 3:30 pm – Jack Curley
• 4:15 pm – Penfriend

However, please note these times may be subject to change.

Without live music our world is a poorer place

Horace Trubridge General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union, says:

“This is a fantastic initiative featuring some truly talented performers. At a time when we are desperately missing live music, it is great to see and hear performers of this calibre doing what they do best, and all for a very good cause.”

Dave Webster, National Organiser for Live Performance says:

“Like so many people affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic, musicians have been hit hard. The music industry fell off a cliff almost overnight, leaving many professionals out of work and the MU responded by being the first to set up a hardship fund for musicians. Live music was one of the first entertainment sectors to be shut down and looks like being the last to reopen.

“Without live music our world is a poorer place, however we are buoyed by the fact that so many have taken to social media and performed online. Unfortunately, that is not a solution for all and so many musicians remain facing serious hardship. This is why we are doing all we can to help them in this time of need, while aiming to keep musicians gigging.”

Donating to the Hardship Fund

We will be calling for donations to the MU Hardship Fund throughout the Summer of Live series:

To donate £5, text MUFUND to 70970
To donate £10, text MUFUND to 70191

You can also donate online.

Fundraising, payments and donations will be processed and administered by the National Funding Scheme (Charity No: 1149800), operating as DONATE. Texts will be charged at your standard network rate. See Terms & Conditions on the Easy Donate website.