Frank Turner has announced his attempt to break the record for the most shows played in 24 hours in honour of the Music Venue Trust.
In celebration of his upcoming 3,000th show and the release of his 10th album ‘Undefeated’ on May 3, Turner will attempt to play 15 shows of minimum 20-minute sets on May 4. Sponsored by taxi app FREENOW, Turner will travel circa 500 miles to play shows from Liverpool to Southampton.
Turner says of his challenge: “With nearly 3000 shows under my belt, I’ve never been one to do things by halves or shirk a challenge – I once played all 50 American states in 50 days, for goodness sake. For the release of my tenth studio album, ‘Undefeated’, I will be making an attempt at a world record: the most number of shows in different cities in 24 hours.
“It’s not just self-promotion either,” he added. “We’re working with 13 independent record shops and 15 independent grassroots music venues for the shows, highlighting two bits of the infrastructure of the underground that I care about most. It’s going to be tough, but hopefully fun too. Come down for a show!”
Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd also said: “We are delighted to support Frank Turner’s attempt to set the official Music Venue Trust world record for the most gigs played in 24 hours. With the help of FREENOW black cabs, Frank will be criss-crossing the nation hitting some of the country’s finest grassroots music venues for an action-packed day which promises to set the global standard for dedication to live music.”
Find tickets here and see below for the tight schedule for Turner’s challenge:
Frank Turner will play:
SATURDAY MAY 4
12.30pm – Liverpool, Jacaranda – instore
2.30pm – Huddersfield, Parish – outstore for Vinyl Tap
4pm – Leeds, Boom – outstore for Crash
6pm – Sheffield, The Foundry – outstore for Bear Tree
7.30pm – Chesterfield, Gasoline – outstore for Tailbird
9pm – Nottingham, Saltbox – outstore for Rough Trade
10.30pm – Birmingham, RMBL – outstore for Eclipse Records
SUNDAY, MAY 5
12.00am – Leamington Spa, Temperance – outstore for Head
2am – Leighton Buzzard, Crooked Crow Bar – outstore for Black Circle Records
4am – London, Underworld – outstore for Rough Trade
6am – Kingston, Banquet Records
7.30am – Aldershot, West End Centre – outstore for 101 Collectors
9am – Portsmouth, Staggeringly Good Brewery – outstore for Pie & Vinyl
10.30am – Winchester – The Railway – outstore for Pie & Vinyl
12pm – Southampton, The Brook – outstore for Vinilio
The news comes ahead of a recent Parliament session that saw music industry figures argue for a £1 ticket levy for all arena-sized gigs and above, in order to secure the future of grassroots venues and artists.
Artists such as Lily Fontaine of English Teacher told Parliament about how artists are facing “a crisis in terms of funding” and being able to support themselves. “There is a lack of funding for musicians to create music,” she said. “That is the foundation of the rest of the ecosystem for the music industry. In a sense, we’re employing everybody else.”
Fontaine also mentioned studio time, rehearsal space, tour managers, engineers, van hire, musicians, non-artist fees, driver fees, accommodation, travel, carnets, visas, insurance, equipment, food, drink and photography as some of the other outgoing expenses artists were expected to pay.
“To maintain a level of professionalism in this industry, you have to have all of the those things in place,” she said. “There really isn’t any money coming in to fund that. You get record labels that give you an advance that has to be split between a number of people. At the end of the day, you’re left with zero profit.”
A report from the MVT this year also showed a “disaster” facing grassroots music venues, with Davyd pointing to the closure of Bath Moles as an example for what the future of music could face without grassroots venues: “You want to put on The Cure headlining 27 nights at The O2 arena? You better be investing in the place where The Cure started their career,” he said.
“You want put on Ed Sheeran playing 27 festival dates? You better be paying so Bath Moles has got a future, because that’s where he started his career.”
Meanwhile, Turner announced his new record in January this year, sharing it was about “survival and defiance, but also one with a sense of fun and self-deprecation.”
“19 years into my solo career, I’m still standing up and putting out some of my best work. It feels good.”
He also spoke to NME about the importance of going to gigs after Covid-19, saying: “We’re trying to remind people that going to independent gigs is fun, and teaching the kids who came of age in 2020 or 2021 that this is a cool thing to do. My role in this is twofold – to shout about it whenever I can and be positive and say it’s a really fucking cool thing to go to indie gigs.
“Don’t fucking go to an arena gig where you get charged nine quid for a beer!”
Previously, the MVT awarded Turner an Outstanding Achievement Award for hosting 27 shows which were instrumental in directly enabling grassroots music venues to survive the coronavirus crisis, having raised nearly £300,000.
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