Coventry City of Culture: Specials singer announces first festival acts
Terry Hall is putting together a four day festival.
Last updated 22nd Jun 2021
The first acts for a unique four-day festival for Coventry City of Culture, curated by Specials singer Terry Hall have been revealed today.
Home Sessions will see Terry Hall inviting some of the artists he has collaborated with over the years, his heroes and heroines, to come and jam together in his hometown.
It will be a one off series of intimate gigs, staged in iconic city centre locations, from Thursday 29 July to Sunday 1 August 2021.
As the lead singer of the definitive Coventry band, The Specials, Terry helped define the sound of a generation.
For Coventry UK City of Culture, he presents a festival that blends international legends, contemporary pioneers and the best in emerging talent.
Home Sessions will also shine a light on the rich past and present of the booming Coventry music scene in what will be one of the unique live experiences of 2021.
The first acts announced for the specially curated festival include DJ and record producer Roni Size; rock band The Libertines and frontman Pete Doherty; country and electronic rock band Alabama 3; jubilant pop rock group The Lightning Seeds, and vintage synth enthusiasts Eccentronic Research Council.
There will be DJ sets by Daddy G (Massive Attack) and Creation Records’ founder Alan McGee’s Death Disco.
The full festival line up will be announced in early July, including the festival’s female headliners.
The Coventry City of Culture Trust say they remain committed to PRS’s gender equality pledge Keychange for all its events.
A special competition, Home Grown, will see local talent, with a focus on underrepresented groups, selected in the lead up to Home Sessions take to the stage as support acts to the internationally-known headliners.
At the close of the festival one of these acts will go on to release a record on Peter Doherty’s new record label, Strap Originals, which is based in the city. Doherty grew up in nearby Bedworth.
As well as the iconic twin venues of Coventry Cathedral Ruins, destroyed in the Blitz during WWII and the new Cathedral, the festival will also take over the brand new HMV Empire, a brand-new state-of-the-art gig venue located nearby in Hertford Street.
Terry Hall says:
“It’s been an extraordinary experience for me. Curating Home Sessions in the middle of a pandemic. It seemed surreal, not knowing whether it could take place amid this current climate. I considered the line-up for months putting the jigsaw together.
My solo performance, taking place in Coventry Cathedral on the Saturday night is one I have always wanted to do. It will be my first live performance for two years and very unlike anything I’ve performed before.
I look forward to performing in front of an audience again and to seeing some live music in my home town of Coventry.”
Chenine Bhathena says:
“As lead singer of the city's much loved band and enduring global export, Terry Hall is the perfect choice as curator for the Home Sessions.
Coventry is a music city, a place that has given birth to movements, mavericks and melodies, and that has welcomed major artists and hosted significant music events of all genres from all over the world.
Home Sessions will see one of our city’s great creative talents blend major international names with exciting emerging talent across our city, and we couldn’t be more excited to be presenting this live music festival in the heart of Coventry.”
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