Artist News Gigs & Festivals

HMV’s Next Big Thing returns

By | Published on Friday 3 December 2010

The second year of HMV’s Next Big Thing festival has been confirmed.

It will take place in various venues operated by HMV’s MAMA Group from 4-13 Feb and feature all those acts of which journalists and pundits and such like are saying “oh, oh, oh, they’re going to be big in 2011, I bet my entire collection of apples on it”. And it’s with apples in mind that Gaymers have been confirmed as a sponsor, presumably. Fashion brand Ted Baker, Xfm and Time Out are also on board as partners.

Participating venues in London will include The Borderline, Camden Barfly, Heaven, the Jazz Café and The Garage, while this year there will also be spin off events at HMV venues in Edinburgh and Birmingham. As last time, each night will feature a number of new bands for a tenner. Clare Maguire, Fenech-Soler, Dutch Uncles and Lauren Pritchard are among the 100 bands expected to appear.

And once the February festival is over, HMV will next year stage Next Big Thing events elsewhere also, in particular taking stages at other festivals, including next year’s Great Escape in Brighton in May.

HMVlive Manager Jason Legg, co-promoter of Next Big Thing, told CMU: “Predicting which new acts will breakthrough as we approach each new year has become a bit of a national past-time, so we’re really pleased to be giving fans an early opportunity to see some of these fresh new faces that they will have heard so much about – and not just in London, but also in Birmingham and Edinburgh”.

He continued: “Our aim is to further extend the scope of the HMV Next Big Thing as we open new venues around the country, and to take the brand to other festivals in time. HMV has always done its best to support new talent, and now that we have access to our own venues we feel the HMV Next Big Thing is a great way to take this engagement to a new level – not only does it represent a great opportunity for artists and labels, but, just as importantly, it has already established itself as a great platform for fans to engage with new talent at an early stage in their careers”.



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