The BRIT Awards do not arrive in Manchester until Saturday night, but by this point the city is already deep into its first BRITs week. Earlier in the programme, The K’s played an intimate Manchester show.
Tonight Olivia Dean plays Albert Hall while Rossi. takes over YES, following The K’s at Gorilla on 20 February and Josh Baker at YES on 25 February. Robbie Williams follows at Aviva Studios on Friday before the main ceremony at Co-op Live on Saturday.
Alongside the gigs, Manchester’s BRITs programme includes activity across the city, while BRITs ticket holders will receive free Metrolink travel on the night of the awards.
More than moving an awards show
The important bit is that Manchester has not simply been hired as a different backdrop for a television broadcast. The surrounding programme is attempting to involve the city’s venues, artists, students and music culture.
That feels more appropriate for a place whose influence on British music is difficult to overstate.
Co-op Live will inevitably receive most of the attention on Saturday. But the smaller shows happening around it make a stronger argument: British music culture is an ecosystem, not a red carpet.
