The Guildford music venue the Boileroom has won the GRASSROOTS VENUE: SPIRIT OF THE SCENE award at the Music Week Awards 2018, giving Guildford’s exciting music scene national recognition.
The awards ceremony returned to the Grosvenor House Hotel in London to celebrate the best of the best in the business. The sold-out event was attended by well over 1,200 guests, including top executives and global superstar Dua Lipa.
The awards recognise all those in the music business with awards across 24 categories ranging from record companies, publishers and PR to law firms, retailers and festivals.
The night was full of memorable moments. There were some unexpected dance moves and impromptu stand-up comedy from Coda’s Alex Hardee, Kilimanjaro’s Stuart Galbraith used the spotlight to scald secondary ticketing, while emotional tributes were paid to George Michael and Avicii.
Winners on the night included Annie Mac for her BBC Radio 1 show, Ed Sheeran for his marketing campaign as well as Atlantic Records taking home the coveted Record Company of the Year Award. However, it was the legendary venue, the Boileroom in Guildford, that received the award for the best Grassroots music venue.
The Boileroom, Guildford – Best UK Grassroots Venue – Music Week Awards 2018
At the awards, they stressed the importance of venues like the Boileroom providing a pathway into the business for young emerging talent, which Guildford has an abundance of due to the world-famous music school, the Academy of Contemporary Music, situated at the heart of the town.
Whilst the Boileroom excels at introducing new talent to the world, it’s been host to some pretty big names as well!
To date, the venue has welcomed 10 Mercury Music nominated artists, BBC 2 Folk Award Winners, MOBO Award Winners, Ivor Novello Award Winners, BBC Sound Of Artists, and several Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees.
They combine emerging touring acts with well-established stalwarts like Ed Sheeran, Foals, The Bronx, Marmozets, First Aid Kit, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Soweto Kinch, Fairport Convention, David ‘Ram Jam’ Rodigan OBE, just to name a few.
The venue was up against the 100 Club in London, Broadcast in Glasgow, Club Ifor Bach in Cardiff, The Joiners in Southampton, Rescue Rooms in Nottingham and Trades Club in Hebden Bridge – but the Boileroom team invited all of the nominees up on stage with them when they collected the award, showing the collective spirit of independence all the venues have together.
The award win comes in the same week that the trade body, UK Music, urged the Government to implement Agent of Change into planning law to keep the live music scene thriving.
Nath Brudenell, owner of the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, which won the accolade in 2017, tweeted, “Proud to see they included everyone nominated and made sure they all went up. It’s collective achievement…setting quality standards.”
It’s great to see Guildford and the surrounding area at the heart of emerging, creative talent in the UK.
The Boileroom, Guildford – Best UK Grassroots Venue – Music Week Awards 2018
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