THE BEEB HITS THE ROAD

BBC Music recently announced the inaugural BBC Music Presents U.S. Tour—a partnership between BBC, Live Nation and the GREAT Britain Campaign, which will be used to showcase buzzing acts Spring King, Izzy Bizu and Sundara Karma.

This first tour, kicking off 11/14, will cover the East Coast (dates are listed below), but four tours are scheduled to occur over the following 12 months.

If you’re unfamiliar, Spring King—signed to Darcus Beese’s Island in the U.K.—is a post-punk four-piece that hails from Manchester. Their track “City” was the first song played on Beats 1 by Zane Lowe in 2015. Last month, single “Detroit” was B Listed at BBC Radio 1. Earlier this year, they got a nice look at one of the U.K.’s biggest music festival, Reading & Leeds.

Izzy Bizu, who played the BBC Introducing stage at Radio 1’s annual Big Weekend festival in May, was A Listed at Radio 1 in August with current single “White Tiger.” The London-born and Epic-repped singer/songwriter was nominated for the 2016 BRITs Critics’ Choice award—an esteemed honor.

Sundara Karma hails from Reading; appropriately, the band opened the main stage at Reading & Leeds. Their Loveblood EP is due out 11/4 via Bee & El/RED in the States and RCA across the pond. Their recently released track, “Olympia,” was dubbed a “World Record” on Beats 1, another cut “She Said” was just B Listed at Radio 1, and the set’s lead single, “Loveblood,” already has 2.5m+ streams on Spotify and is impacting U.S. Alternative radio now. Praise for this alt/rock quartet has been pouring in from the likes of The Guardian, Huffington Post, NME, Radio 1’s Annie Mac and more.

“BBC Music are delighted to be launching our first of four tours of North America across the next 12 months, in partnership with Live Nation and the GREAT Britain campaign,” shared BBC Music Head of International Jason Carter. “These gigs will showcase the brightest UK talent supported by the BBC from very early on at BBC local level in the UK through to national exposure, and now internationally. BBC Music will continue to extend our public service commitment to artists globally.”

"Considering the BBC has set the precedent for discovering the next big thing first, Live Nation jumped at the opportunity to collaborate,” added Live Nation’s Aaron Wilson. “Together, we are proud to present a tour that will premiere emerging UK artists in the US."

EAST COAST DATES:
11/14 – Gramercy Theatre, NYC
11/15 – Brighton Music Hall, Boston
11/18 – The Foundry, Philadelphia
11/20 – House of Blues, Cleveland
11/22 – The Shelter, Detroit
11/23 – Bottom Lounge, Chicago