Like protest songs? Neither does Grace Petrie - and she's been singing them for 15 politically disastrous years. No longer able to meet the deadened eyes or desperate hopes of leftwing audiences, she reckons there's no better time for a feel-good show! Depressed by fascism, misogyny and eco-destruction? Sounds like YOUR climate needs a change!
Long respected as the British folk scene’s funniest lesbian, Grace’s 2022 standup debut Butch Ado About Nothing garnered critical acclaim and sold out venues across the UK. THIS IS NO TIME TO PANIC! sees her combine music and comedy for the first time. She knows folk songs can't save the world, and neither can standup. But both at the same time?? Read it and weep, Putin!
Forged in the political fires of a generation of Tory rule, Grace Petrie is a protest singer for the modern era. Emerging onto the UK folk scene in 2010 with a handful of unpolished, low-fi acoustic songs, her razor-sharp lyricism and the unassuming charm of her performance style began to grab attention from the get-go. In 2011 The Guardian hailed her as a “powerful songwriting voice”, and the legendary Tom Robinson invited her to perform in session on his BBC6Music show. Support slots with the likes of Billy Bragg, Robin Ince and Josie Long followed, and Petrie spent the 2010’s amassing a genre-defying army of fans that crossed the boundaries of folk, punk, protest, LGBTQ+ activism and alternative comedy.
Proudly DIY, crowdfunding allowed her to independently release her first studio-recorded album in 2018 – the critically acclaimed Queer As Folk. Comprising a raft of passion-infused folk anthems, the crowning jewel was breakout single Black Tie, for which she is still best known today. Written as an encouraging, hopeful missive to her unhappy younger self, the song provided an emotive hymn to queer joy that was embraced by thousands of people both in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond and catapulted Petrie from fan favourite to mainstream attention, with glowing reviews in MOJO, the Observer and The New Yorker to name a few. Following a BBC Radio 2 live session for Jo Whiley, she was invited to open Frank Turner’s 12- date UK arena tour, requested as a support act in Europe for Emmy-winner Hannah Gadsby and became a regular musical guest on the smash hit comedy podcast The Guilty Feminist. Black Tie continues to draw new fans from the first listen and to date has accrued 1.2 million streams on Spotify.
Her latest release BUILD SOMETHING BETTER is a return to blistering form. A decade after being hailed as “a millennial’s Billy Bragg” (Huffington Post), the protest anthems pour out of her as fierce as ever and production from folk-punk legend Frank Turner sees them elevated to the crowd barrier hollering anthems he is known for. Upon release, it smashed the UK top 30 and topped both the UK folk and UK download charts, cementing her status as one of Britain’s most beloved songwriters.
Doors: 6:30pm | Last entry: 7pm
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