Music Venue Trust hit back at Manchester’s Co-Op Live for saying some grassroots venues are “poorly run” – despite arena facing own major issues

A post shared by Tunbridge Wells Forum (@twforum)Recently, it was announced Alien Ant Farm and CKY had become the first American band to add a £1 ticket levy to their UK tours.It follows a similar move by Enter Shikari last year; last May, the band shared details of a 2024 run of UK tour dates, where £1 from each ticket sold was donated to the Music Venue Trust.Other companies have launched similar initiatives. Independent ticketing company Skiddle announced in October it would donate 50p of every ticket sold towards saving grassroots music venues, while taxi firm FREENOW pledged to donate £1 from every ride to the cause.Ticketmaster have introduced a Music Venue Trust charity upsell option, enabling fans to make direct contributions to MVT when purchasing tickets.

Take That fans have been sharing their frustration and concerns ahead of the band’s series of shows planned for Co-op Live next week.

stand-up performances from Peter Kay on April 23 and 24. Following a test event with Rick Astley, however, the comedian’s gigs were postponed until April 29 and 30 due to a failed power test.A Black Keys gig that was scheduled for April 27 later had to be pushed back to May 15, and the Kay dates were delayed for the second time.Last night (May 1), A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s concert was cancelled at the last minute because of a “venue-related technical issue” before it was confirmed that Olivia Rodrigo’s shows at the Co-Op Live this Friday and Saturday (May 3, 4) had been postponed.

BBC, Mark Davyd (CEO of the Music Venue Trust) said he was to meet with the Co-Op Live once the venue was up and running. The meeting comes amongst the furore with Co-Op Live’s executive director Gary Roden, who suggested some grassroots venues were “poorly run” whilst discussing the case for a £1 ticket levy to preserve them.Davyd later criticised Roden’s comments, pointing out the average age of the artists booked to play at the venue was 52: “The average length of time it takes for a British artist to be booked to headline the Coop Live Arena from the date of the release of their first album is 30 (THIRTY) years.

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Peter Kay's fans have been hit with more disappointment as the comedian's shows at Manchester's Co-Op Live have been postponed for a second time.

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NME that comments made by Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena about grassroots venues are “disrespectful and disingenuous”.Earlier this week, the executive director of the major new 23,500 capacity venue said that some smaller venues in the UK are “poorly run” and dismissed calls for a £1 ticket levy on all gigs arena-sized and above.Gary Roden told the BBC he believes the levy is “too simplistic”, and says it should fall on the government rather than major arenas to support the live music ecosystem.“If the conversation stops being ‘Give me a quid’ and quite aggressive – if it changed to be, ‘What can we do together to help?’, that’s where I think we start to get into that apprenticeship conversation and all those different things that we want to work through,” he said.In response, Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, has told NME that he believes Roden’s comments are “disrespectful and disingenuous”, while also highlighting the irony of making such “ill-judged, unnecessary and misleading” remarks on the week that their own venue was forced to postpone their own launch, due to a number of logistical problems.“It is regrettable that the owners of Co-Op Live have consistently declined invitations to engage properly in the discussion about the future of the UK’s live music ecosystem so that the team there could have a full understanding of the challenges and issues facing the grassroots music sector, venues, artists and promoters,” Davyd said.“This lack of willingness to play a role in that ecosystem unfortunately leads them to make ill-judged and poorly considered comments about the sector’s approach to the discussions, the professionalism of the people running the venues, the possibility for [Co-Op Live commercial partner]

Kyle Walker has reportedly hit out at his ex-lover Lauryn Goodman’s claims that he invited her and their two children to watch him play at Euro 2024. In December, it was revealed that Kyle had fathered two children with influencer Lauryn Goodman despite being married to his wife Annie Kilner.

Greg Rutherford has shared a health update with fans following his gruesome Dancing on Ice injury.The Olympian posted photographs of his scars after undergoing surgery on his stomach. Greg, 37, tore "all of his abs" while rehearsing for the ITV show earlier this year, and was forced to pull out of the final due to his injury.The horrific accident occurred when Greg was trying to skate through the legs of professional skater Colin Grafton during a rehearsal. He's since undergone surgery and has been keeping fans updated with his recovery on social media.

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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.

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