With this summer’s music festivals all cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, STV has announced plans to stage its own virtual festival featuring some of the music industry’s biggest names in aid of the STV Children’s Appeal.
Songs for Scotland: Summer Festival will kick off at 7.30pm on Thursday 6 August on the STV Children’s Appeal’s Facebook page and the STV Player, and feature headline performances from Tom Walker and Annie Lennox.
Other acts on the bill include Scots stars KT Tunstall, Amy Macdonald, Marti Pellow and The Fratellis, as well as a number of emerging homegrown acts such as Dundee’s Be Charlotte, Bathgate’s Luke La Volpe and Aberdeen’s Ransom FA, who competed in BBC Three’s The Rap Game UK in 2019.
Australian pop star and Ru Paul’s Drag Race icon Courtney Act will also be joining STV presenter Polly Bartlett for an exclusive performance, while Ant & Dec and Love Island winner Paige Turley are among the famous faces set to make special appearances throughout the evening.
Songs for Scotland: Summer Festival will wrap up the STV Children’s Appeal’s series of online concerts which have raised thousands for its Emergency Coronavirus Campaign since being launched in May.
Tom Walker: Child poverty levels ‘just not right’
An exclusive interview with headliner Tom Walker will also be played out ahead of his performance at the festival.
In the interview, the ‘Leave a Light On’ hitmaker – who was born in North Lanarkshire – stresses the importance of safeguarding the UK’s small music venues as they struggle to recover from the effects of the pandemic:
“Me and the band haven’t done a gig since February, and we had between 35 and 40 festivals booked in this year all around the world. Obviously that getting cancelled and Glastonbury getting cancelled has been really tough for musicians, especially as they were the last to get sorted out.
On why he’s giving his time to headline Songs for Scotland in aid of the STV Children’s Appeal, Tom adds: “How can one in four of Scotland’s children be in poverty? It’s just not right – something’s got to be done about that. If it’s one in four now, where are we going to be at the end of this pandemic, when people are losing jobs? It’s an important issue and people need to be made aware of it.”
Viewers can donate £5 to the STV Children’s Appeal to support these children affected by poverty, by texting HERO to 70507.
Natalie Wright, STV Children’s Appeal Campaign Manager, said: “Summer 2020 has been a disappointing one to say the least, but we hope our Songs for Scotland series has gone some way in brightening up some of the darker moments of lockdown for many.
“The response to these online concerts from the people of Scotland and our supporters around the world has been incredible – and we, along with the thousands of vulnerable children in Scotland who benefit from these donations, would be extremely grateful to see another evening of generosity when the curtain goes up on our jam-packed Summer Festival this Thursday.”
Watch Songs for Scotland: Summer Festival on STV Children’s Appeal’s Facebook Live and the STV Player – Thursday 6 August 2020, 7.30pm.
