Big year ahead across East and West Sussex for Worthing music promoters

Worthing music promoters atom presents are hoping for a big year on the music scene as they look forward to 2022.
Thom Milner-SmithThom Milner-Smith
Thom Milner-Smith

Director and promoter Thom Milner-Smith has already announced 10cc’s first return to Worthing in seven years. They are promising all the hits – I’m Not In Love, Dreadlock Holiday, Rubber Bullets, The Wall Street Shuffle, Donna and more – when they play Worthing’s Assembly Hall on October 23 2022. Tickets on https://www.eventim.co.uk/event/10cc-worthing-assembly-hall-14573581/

Worthing music promoters atom presents are approaching 2022 with renewed confidence with plenty of big names heading this way as we continue to negotiate challenging times.

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Director and promoter Thom Milner-Smith is particularly pleased to have secured 10cc’s first return to Worthing in seven years when they play Worthing’s Assembly Hall on October 23 2022.

Testament to 10cc’s ongoing appeal, the band can count a generation-straddling array of fellow artists, everyone from Chrissie Hynde to The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie and Axl Rose to Sophie Ellis Bextor, among their millions of fans.

Thom said: “When they played Worthing last time it was pretty much sold out and they are just an unbelievable band. They have sold more than 30 million records and they’re still going strong. Graham Gouldman (an original still with the band) said they are playing the best ever. I went to the show in Worthing when they were last here seven years ago and it was remarkable. It had visuals and the songs were very catchy. It was just great.”

As for audience confidence: “We had a great success with Rag ‘n’ Bone man who was here in October. The show went on sale about a month before that and it sold out in eight hours. A lot of people are still really confident and want to go to gigs.

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“I think you are finding that people don’t book months in advance. They just wait and see what is coming up in the next week and if everything is OK, they book it. They don’t want the uncertainty of booking something which is a long way away. If things are OK, they just say ‘OK, I am going.’ The narrative has always been that we’re not going back to another lockdown and things have been a bit ad hoc since, but lateral flow tests are a sensible idea.

“I would say that 80 per cent of performers are really, really happy and confident to be back, making music and earning money and doing what they love but unfortunately a couple of acts have rescheduled tours or cancelled tours because one of the members of the band has got Covid. That has been the main factor in stopping a couple of tours, but I would say that definitely there is a lot of confidence and generally things are fairly positive.”

And yes there is a different appreciation of music and gigs all round: “It is about mental health and wellbeing and just being with friends and family. Many people have not been able to see their family for a long time. It’s about congregating and sharing and making memories together. And I think that’s really important for people. A lot of people have relied on concerts in the past for meeting up with friends and being happy and that was taken away from them so I think there is a big demand. A few people are uncertain but we are finding that the drop-off is fairly small now. When concerts came back there was quite a high drop-off, people buying tickets and then not coming to the gig on the day. At first it would have been something like 50 per cent but when we had Bernard Butler from Suede it was only about five per cent drop-off. People are getting more confident.”

Also coming up through atom:

Example – DLWP, Bexhill – Wednesday, January 26 2022

The Clockworks/Cheap Teeth – The Factory Live, Worthing - Wednesday, February 2 2022

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Fin Foxell/Kay Young – The Factory Live, Worthing – Thursday, February 3 2022

Emily Burns/Tayo Sound – The Factory Live Worthing – Friday, February 4 2022

Ed Gamble – DLWP, Bexhill – Sunday, February 6 2022

Mike Skinner – Jungle, Worthing – Thursday, March 10 2022

Soul II Soul – Pavilion Theatre, Worthing – Sunday, March 13 2022

Steve Harley – Pavilion Theatre, Worthing – Monday, March 14 2022

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Barenaked Ladies – Assembly, Worthing – Saturday, 19 March 2022

Omid Djalili – DLWP, Bexhill – Saturday, March 19 2022

Tangerine Dream – Concorde 2, Brighton – Wednesday, March 23 2022

Ibibio Sound Machine - The Venue, Worthing – Thursday, 31 March 2022

David Rodigan – Pavilion, Worthing – Saturday, April 2 2022

False Heads – The Factory Live, Worthing – Monday, April 11 2022

AL Murray – DLWP, Bexhill – Saturday, April 30 2022

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The South – The Factory Live, Worthing – Saturday, May 21 2022

10cc – Assembly Hall, Worthing – Sunday, October 23 2022

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