Live music is coming back to Brighton with Live is Alive! A collaborative event backed by a host of the city’s venues.

Brighton music venues have joined together to put on a series of live gigs at The Dome to help raise support for the city’s beleaguered music scene.

Live Is Alive! will take place at the Brighton Dome and via livestream over four consecutive Saturday evenings from 17 October 2020. Each of the events will be programmed and presented in collaboration with different grassroots venues and feature a range of local emerging artists and acts.

“We will host the small-scale performances in our iconic Concert Hall, open to audiences for the first time since closing in March 2020. Tickets are limited to 250 each night, presented in a cabaret-style seating format, as well as offering a livestream for viewers to watch online. We’ve received the ‘Good to Go’ mark with enhanced safety measures in place throughout the building, to support a socially-distanced audience,” read a release from the Dome.

“From jazz fusion to punk, electro-pop to beat poetry, the events will nurture young creative talent and help to support a collective solidarity to raise awareness of the financial plight venues have faced since the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close their doors. Venues will benefit from fundraising opportunities through ticket sales and donations.”

Lockdown and social distancing measures have been a hammer blow to the UK’s live music scene, and it would seem that the Tory Government is unbothered by the perilous position the market is now in.

The #SaveOurVenues initiative has drawn attention to the plight of grassroots venues and other parts of our rich arts economy, but real, meaningful help is still not forthcoming.

The live music sector brings £4.5bn to the UK economy and supports 210,000 jobs, with millions of fans coming together to enjoy their favourite artists year after year. It would seem for all the world that the Tory government and the vultures that support it are more than happy to see Britain’s grassroots music scene die out, and no doubt be replaced by soulless 02 venues and new housing developments.

Brighton is a city defined by its artistic heritage and its music culture, and it is those involved in this that have been left to save it.

The Live Is Alive! collective of partners said: “Live Is Alive is what happens when a city comes together in a crisis – a unified force pulling each other forward towards awareness and survival. It is the joining of Brighton’s live music venues under the beacon that is Brighton Dome. We want these events to represent hope and resilience, and to reignite our cherished music industry for the venues, the staff and freelancers as well as the up and coming artists, musicians, bands, the gig-goers and music lovers.”

Brighton & Hove’s live music scene is one of the city’s great success stories, generating an estimated £112m per year for the local economy and plays a key role in its position as a creative, cultural and tourist destination. Venues can reopen but most are unable to operate as sustainable businesses under the current government guidelines. 

Andrew Comben, Chief Executive, Brighton Dome added:

“We are delighted to be able to offer our venue to support the city’s grassroots music venues and to offer a place for emerging artists to play. These events will be our first step towards bringing live performances back in a safe format and we hope audiences will feel confident and excited about returning.”

Live is Alive! Is being supported by:  Attenborough Centre for the Arts, Brighton Dome – host venue, The Brunswick, CHALK, Brighton, Concorde 2, The Green Door Store, The Hope & Ruin, Komedia, Latest Music Bar, MVAB (Music Venue Alliance Brighton), The Old Market, The Pipeline, The Prince Albert, St George’s Church.