Amazon’s ‘Prime Day Live’ Celebrates Grassroots Music Venues Across the UK October 9, 2020 Lewis Capaldi livestreamed a special ‘behind closed doors’ performance from Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh, along with Celeste from Bush Hall in London, Cate Le Bon from Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff, and presenter Gemma Cairney who hosted from Le Belle Angele in Edinburgh Download a full set of images here LONDON – 10, OCTOBER 2020 – Last night, Amazon hosted a star-studded livestreamed event featuring chart-topping artist Lewis Capaldi, BBC Sound of 2020 winner and Amazon Music Ones To Watch 2020 artist Celeste, and Welsh artist and producer Cate Le Bon for ‘Prime Day Live’ , who each returned to a small scale venue to give a special ‘behind closed doors’ performance in support of the Music Venue Trust, alongside show host and broadcaster, Gemma Cairney. Lewis Capaldi performed hit tracks from his award-winning debut album ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent’, including ‘Someone You Loved’, ‘Bruises’ and ‘Before You Go’ at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s. The two-time BRIT award winner, who is more used to commanding sold-out arenas and festival stages, swapped thousands of screaming fans for an empty venue where he first played as a support act in 2015 and returned for his first ever headline show three years ago. During the performance, Lewis said: “It’s so nice to be here and get out of the house! Thank you to Amazon for having us on, it’s such a lovely cause and we’ve got to keep struggling music venues open. I played a lot of my first gigs here at Sneaky Pete’s as a young man, so it’s been special ever since then.” Lewis was joined by soul singer Celeste, who gave a spine-tingling performance at London’s iconic Bush Hall, along with Mercury-nominated artist and producer Cate Le Bon who took to the stage at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff. Each artist performed a 30 min live set, with popular UK broadcaster, Gemma Cairney hosting the event live from Edinburgh’s La Belle Angele – one of Edinburgh’s favourite gig venues, that has been closed since the pandemic struck. Patrick Clifton, Head of Music, Amazon Music UK: “When we set out to create Prime Day Live, our aim was to help protect the futures of some of the UK’s most loved music venues and show our solidarity with the live music industry. By taking artists back to venues that have meant something to their musical journey, we hope we’ve raised awareness of the important role these grassroots venues play in UK music culture and highlighted the importance of protecting them. Thanks to all of those who watched safely from home and joined Amazon in donating.” It was not only a night of great performances, but a special night for the venues themselves. Nick Stewart, booker at Sneaky Pete's commented: “Our whole team are over the moon that Lewis chose us for this special show. We can't thank him enough for coming back to play Sneaky Pete's and we're very grateful to Amazon for making it happen and for their financial support towards our operating costs which will make a huge difference in protecting our future.” Simon Ruskin, operation manager of La Belle Angele in Edinburgh where host Gemma Cairney presented from said: “Being part of the Music Venue Trust has always been beneficial for us as a grassroots venue, however the COVID outbreak has proved them to be invaluable. Without their guidance, support, and representation I’m not sure we would have made it this far. It looks like we still have a very long way to go before we will be able to open again, but thanks to Amazon and their generous donation, we have been able to start planning ahead.” Prime Day Live Watch Parties Despite Prime Day Live not having a live audience, that didn’t stop fans from tuning in and hosting their own COVID-safe celebrations at home. Laura Whitmore, Oliver Proudlock and Emma Louise Connolly, Googlebox’s Denise Van Outen, Eddie Boxshall, Pixie Lott, Rylan and Lydia Bright all enjoyed the show from the comfort of their own homes. Raising Funds for Music Venues As part of Prime Day Live, Amazon has made individual donations to the four music venues that participated to support their ongoing operating costs, as well as making its second donation of 2020 to the Music Venue Trust’s #SaveOurVenues appeal www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-our-venues. In addition, event partners including Payne Play City, Amazon Music, Prime Video, Audible and Prime Reading supported the event, and Twitch viewers were able to donate directly to Music Venue Trust during the livestream. Customers can also choose Music Venues Trust when shopping with Amazon Smile, meaning a portion of eligible purchases will support the charity when customers shop via smile.amazon.co.uk and select Music Venue Trust as the charitable organisation to support. Amazon Music Unlimited Prime Day Offer For just £0.99, Prime members who haven’t yet tried Amazon Music Unlimited can get four months of the premium streaming tier with unlimited access to more than 60 million songs ad-free, and now a wide selection of popular podcasts. Find more information at www.amazon.co.uk/primedaylive. Support Small Businesses on Prime Day Prime Day Live is in celebration of Prime Day (13th – 14th October) – which offers Prime members two full days of the best in shopping and entertainment deals with fantastic savings to be had. This year, Prime Day is focussed on supporting small businesses, with a £75million investment being made by Amazon to support small businesses globally. In the UK, Prime members who spend £10 with select small businesses selling in Amazon’s store between September 28 th and October 12th will earn £10 to spend on Prime Day. Visit Amazon.co.uk/Primeday for more information or www.amazon.co.uk/supportsmall to find out more about how Amazon is supporting small businesses. -ENDS- For further information please contact: The Academy PR, [email protected], 07958 245 277 Amazon UK, [email protected] About Amazon.co.uk Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalised recommendations, Prime, Fulfilment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.co.uk/about and follow @AmazonNewsUK Amazon UK social Twitter: www.twitter.com/AmazonUK Instagram: www.instagram.com/AmazonUK Facebook: www.facebook.com/AmazonUK Amazon UK Music social Twitter: www.twitter.com/AmazonMusicUK Facebook: www.facebook.com/AmazonMusicUK/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/amazonmusicuk About Prime Day Amazon’s annual Prime Day event is back in time for the festive season, taking place on 13 th and 14th October. The two-day shopping event delivers Prime members incredible savings and deep discounts on over one million deals globally across every category. Prime Day kicks off at 00.01am on Tuesday, 13th October and runs through to 23.59pm on Wednesday 14th October, for Prime members in the U.K, U.S., U.A.E, Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium, Austria, Australia, and – participating for the first time this year – Turkey and Brazil. Members can shop deals and top products including toys, TVs, electronics, fashion, beauty, kitchen, home, and Amazon Devices, starting today and throughout the two-day epic deals event at amazon.co.uk/primeday. Not a Prime member yet? Anyone can join Prime or start a 30-day free trial at amazon.co.uk/primeday to participate in Prime Day. About Amazon Music Amazon Music reimagines music listening by enabling customers to unlock millions of songs and thousands of curated playlists and stations with their voice. Amazon Music provides unlimited access to new releases and classic hits across iOS and Android mobile devices, PC, Mac, Echo, and Alexa- enabled devices including Fire TV and more. With Amazon Music, Prime members have access to ad-free listening of 2 million songs at no additional cost to their membership. Listeners can also enjoy the premium subscription service, Amazon Music Unlimited, which provides access to more than 60 million songs and the latest new releases. Amazon Music HD, a tier of premium quality streaming audio, offers more than 60 million songs in High Definition (HD), millions of songs in Ultra HD, and a growing catalogue of 3D audio. Customers also have free access to an ad-supported selection of top playlists and stations on Amazon Music. All Amazon Music tiers now offer a wide selection of podcasts at no additional cost. Engaging with music and culture has never been more natural, simple, and fun. For more information, visit amazonmusic.co.uk or download the Amazon Music App. About Music Venue Trust Music Venue Trust is a UK registered charity which acts to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues. These venues play a crucial role in nurturing talent, providing a platform for artists to build their careers, develop their music and performance skills. They are essential not only for artist development, but also for the cultural and music industries, the economy and local communities. Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh Sneaky Pete’s is a full-time live music venue and nightclub in Edinburgh with a maximum capacity of 100. It opened twelve years ago and is a unique venue for bands that are just starting out - they foster local and emerging talent.