By Darren Grayer.
A local musician has teamed up with a bar in Southampton to host a series of open mic nights, with the purpose of providing a platform for other local musicians to showcase their material.
Based in Romsey, Charlie Smith describes himself as an alternative acoustic singer/songwriter. He has been performing locally and beyond for several years, and in October 2023 embarked on his first solo tour, taking in venues at Leicester, Liverpool, and Stockton.
Last year his DIY Tour took him across the South of England, calling in at Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton, and London, and was bult around helping to showcase other local musicians from those areas.
He has released two albums and a host of singles and eps, one of which, Have It All, has received over 300k streams. His latest single, God Doesn’t Hate You, features three tracks, and was released at the end of February. He records everything at home.
In what sounds like a very positive and exciting venture, Charlie has teamed up with Belgium and Blues bar in Above Bar Street to host monthly events. These will be held on Thursday nights, the next of which will be this coming one (20th). As already suggested, this will provide the opportunity for local artists to not just show off their talent, but to gain further performative experience.
Running alongside this will be Sunday night gigs at the venue (next one 23rd) that will be mainly acoustically based. These will be aimed at giving up and coming artists the chance to play in a prime Southampton location alongside other acts.
The open mic nights will be free to attend and play but should anyone be interested in attending on Sundays there is limited availability for guest list tickets. More information can be found on Charlie’s Eventbrite page.
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