Railway museum presented with Blur plaque
The inaugural PRS for Music Heritage Award, honouring the site of Blur’s first gig, was presented to the East Anglian Railway Museum on Monday 30 November.
The Heritage Award is a unique scheme to celebrate UK music venues which have played a pivotal role in launching the careers of some of the country’s most iconic music acts.
Blur played their first gig at the Railway Museum in 1989 when the band was known as Seymour. Blur also made a triumphant return to the Museum in the summer of 2009 before going on to perform at the Glastonbury festival.
Speaking at the event, PRS Chairman Ellis Rich said: 'We are indebted to wonderful venues like the East Anglian Railway Museum for giving Blur, and bands like them, the chance to perform when they were just a small note on the musical scale of greatness. Performing in front of a live audience is how embryonic bands grow, develop, and perfect their skills.'
The PRS for Music Music Heritage campaign continues on Thursday December 3, where a plaque will be unveiled to mark Dire Straits' musical birthplace at a block of flats in Deptford, South East London. You can find out more in our news item on Dire Straits.
About the PRS for Music Heritage Award
PRS for Music has launched a unique scheme to celebrate UK music venues which have played a pivotal role in launching the careers of some of the country’s best-loved and iconic music acts.
The PRS for Music Heritage Award scheme honours the performance birthplaces of legendary bands, artists and songwriters - as well as recognising the network of pubs, clubs and live music venues that have been integral in providing a training ground for the best of UK music talent.
The scheme launches by unveiling a commemorative plaque to Blur at the site of their first ever gig in the Goods Yard of the East Anglian Railway Museum, Colchester. The plaque unveiling took place on Monday 30 November. Hot on its heels will follow another Heritage Award celebration, this time to Dire Straits whose musical birthplace was outside a block of flats in Deptford, South-East London.
There are more UK-wide Heritage Awards in the planning which will be charted on a special interactive map - and this is where you come in.
If you, your friends or your family members were at the first gig of an act you think PRS for Music should recognise in this way, please email heritage@prsformusic.com Or if you have photos, memorabilia or merchandise from any of these ‘musical birthplaces’, PRS for Music would love to hear from you. If we make an award based on your suggestion, we promise to invite you to the celebration.