Skip to main content

Tramlines Festival Opens ‘Apply To Play’ For Emerging Talent

Tramlines, Sheffield’s biggest music festival, has announced the opening of this year’s ‘Apply to Play’. The scheme offers a number of paid performance slots to emerging and undiscovered bands and artists from across the UK. Those wishing to play at the 2022 edition of Tramlines can apply via the website at. https://tramlines.org.uk/apply-to-play-now-live/

 

Taking place at Hillsborough Park from Friday 22nd – Sunday 24th July, Apply To Play is an annual call out. With slots available to play across a variety of stages, Tramlines Festival continues year on year to support and create opportunities for grass root music talent. 

 

With no genre or set-up out of the question, Apply To Play is open to anyone who believes they have what it takes to entertain the music-loving crowd at Tramlines. 

 

Tramlines Operations Director Timm Cleasby said, 

 

“Discovering new artists has always been at the heart of Tramlines. Walking round the festival and hearing a new sound that just grabs you like when I first heard the angelic voices, Before Breakfast in 2019 is fantastic. It’s great to see August Charles who played through Apply To Play in 2021, booked for this year. We love championing new bands and I can’t wait to find my new favourite artist for 2022.”




Winners are selected by a panel of industry experts, tastemakers and the Tramlines team, and successful applicants will also receive a performance fee. 

 

Winners this year will join a line up including Sam Fender, Kasabian, Madness, The Wombats, James, Declan McKenna, The Vaccines, Sigrid, Becky Hill, Kelis, Alfie Templeman, Jade Bird, Self Esteem and many more.

 

The deadline for applications is 14th April and the winners will be notified by 27th May. With the scheme receiving so many amazing entries, unfortunately organisers are unable to respond to each applicant individually.

 

Notable bands discovered via Apply To Play in past years include Blossoms who later were nominated for a Mercury Music Prize in 2017, showing what an important, career-launching platform this can be.

 


More recently, 2021 Apply To Play winners included August Charles who this year has gone on to receive an official booking by Tramlines to play the T’Other Stage (Stage 2).

 

And singer-songwriter Rumbi Tauro - also the winner of the ‘Pattern & Push’ vocalist competition endorsed and supported by Toddla T and rapper Coco - who got to meet MOBO Award winner, Mahalia. On the experience, Rumbi said,

 

“Being a part of Tramlines was honestly an incredible experience. I got a chance to network with other artists/bands throughout the day, a BBC Radio Sheffield Live interview and a chance to see the logistics of what it's like performing at a festival. Meeting Mahalia after her set was incredible. She took the time to share some words of wisdom and encouragement that truly inspired me. 

 

I really recommend applying because opportunities like 'Apply to Play' can open so many doors and give you a real chance to build relationships with industry people.”

Most Popular

Fashion For a Cause: Brands That Stand with Palestine and the history of fashion as a form of Activism

by Oana-Maria Moldovan For over two months, there has been an ongoing genocide war in Gaza. To simplify a long and horrific issue, the situation that started, on a larger scale, around one hundred years ago, and has only become amplified since October 7th 2023. Taking place around the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Israel–Lebanon border, the armed conflict is between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups.  The problem is about “stolen” land. Said land is seen as an important holy part of both religions involved. But really, how holy can we consider a land to be, if people kill other people for it? It’s important to remember that this genocide is about three things: forced occupation, zionism, and religion. It’s also important to remember what ethnic erasure is. This terrible expresion, also known as cultural or ethnic assimilation, refers to the process by which the distinct cultural or ethnic identity of a particular group is gradually diminished or erased, often due to...
Read more

Now What? The Aftermath of the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl'

by Susan Moore Here is a bit about me: I am an open, excitable, creative AFAB who is also moderately attractive. I have a unique sense of personal style and a personality that on the surface can only be described as “bubbly” and “quirky”. For this reason, dating is a nightmare. To be sure, I do not have a hard time finding dates or potential suitors. The problems arise when said dates spend some time with me and decide that I am a rare specimen, and the connection they feel with me is “unlike anything they have felt before”. Then, things go one of two ways.  Either a) they decide I am too high maintenance and no longer palatable, or  b) they choose to never look further than the surface and are content to date the idea of me rather than the real me. There is something rather interesting, perhaps funny, about my situation. It is in no way unique. I have met so many people who constantly dealt with the same problem. Even funnier still, is the fact that there is a trope that simu...
Read more

‘Make Tattooing Safe Again’: Sheffield Based Tattoo Artist Exposed for Indecent Behaviour

 by Emily Fletcher TW: SA, Animal Abuse, Transphobia Photo Credit: @ meiko_akiz uki Recently, an  Instagram account  has been created to provide a  ‘space to safely give a voice to those who want to speak out about the behaviour of one, Sheffield based tattoo artist’. A  total of 40+ posts have been made by the above social media account regarding  one of Sheffield's most popular tattoo artists .  Thankfully, all posts are prefaced with a Content Warning prior to sharing screenshots of the messages that have been sent anonymously to the page. The majority of Content Warnings refer to sexual behaviour, abuse, and sexual assault. It is clear that there is a reoccurring theme within each submission, as many clients appear to have had the same experiences with the tattoo artist. Women, mostly, are being made to feel uncomfortable while being tattooed. One of the most vulnerable positions anyone can be in, tattoo artists should make their clients feel ...
Read more