On Thursday, at 8.30pm UK time, Frank Turner is going to perform a gig in front of the empty pub in order to raise money for the pub’s survival. In his announcement on Twitter he teases “a set of rarities and B-sides, lots of very deep cuts!”

This Thursday, 8.30pm UK time, #IndependentVenueLove Volume 6! Benefit for @ParishHudd in Huddersfield. A set of rarities and B-sides, lots of very deep cuts!

The fundraiser is here: https://t.co/hW4cwDckrR

Mark your diaries, see you there!#saveourvenues pic.twitter.com/YZTeN02Ul5

— Frank Turner (@frankturner) April 27, 2020

“My career exists because I was able to build it in these places and, given the situation that we’re all facing now, it seems like the very least I can do to try and repay that,” he said. Since the beginning of lockdown, Turner already played and streamed five benefit concerts from his home, each of them raising at least £10,000. Those benefits will go to venues in London, Southampton, Leicester, Winchester and Tunbridge Wells.

On Tuesday Turner announced via Twitter that he is now a part of Music Venue Trust’s Save Our Venues, an initiative, which aims to protect smaller UK venues from the coronavirus effects. With a heart-warming message on their website, Save Our Venues asks for help: “Without these venues the opportunities for artists and audiences to connect in a meaningful way at a local level will simply disappear in a lot of cases. And if they go they will never come back. Please help us to help grassroots music venues to survive this unprecedented threat to their existence”.

Come join us, raise a glass & celebrate all that everyone has achieved & a thank you to all of you who got behind us & donated. It's not too late to do so, link to CF here – https://t.co/CKcaQXWwXM
Frank live stream link – https://t.co/nLFtEuM1tX

Parish x

— The Parish (@ParishHudd) April 27, 2020

With a capacity of 170, The Parish is one of the smaller venues. Aaron Snowdown, a promoter for The Parish said that usually the pub would host about 200 shows yearly but given the current circumstances about 40 gigs had to be postponed or rescheduled. So far, the crowdfunding page has raised more than £30,000 but is hoping to gain more money with the support of the Frank Turner gig.

If you’d like to watch the live stream, tune in tomorrow at 8.30 pm UK time on Frank Turner’s Youtube channel. If you want to donate to The Parish check out their crowdfunding here.

Unusually for a punk gig at the time, it was open to people of all ages and was filmed by director Julian Temple. In 2013, footage from it was featured in the documentary “Nevermind the Baubles: Christmas with the Sex Pistols.”

The petition has been launched by fan Ian Lockwood who has addressed it to the Kirklees Council asking that a blue plaque to commemorate the event be erected on what is left of the former club which was originally part of Huddersfield’s ornate Grand Picture Theatre and was later incorporated into a supermarket. The  petition can be singed here.

The Sex Pistols were the biggest band of the original punk movement who formed in 1975. They were responsible for pioneering the genre and have influenced many different kinds of bands who have formed over the past forty years. Although they were only initially together for two and a half years and only produced one actual album, 1977’s “Nevermind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols!” they are regarded as one of most influential popular music artists of all time.

The original line-up comprised of vocalist Johnny Rotten (real name John Lydon), guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock who was replaced by Sid Vicious in 1977.  Under the management of Malcolm McLaren,   they caused much controversy which made national  headlines in several tabloids. This resulted in them being banned from playing around most of Britain and when they did their concerts where often known to end in chaos. Particular incidents included an interview on daytime Tv show “The Bill Grundy Show” where they used several words of profanity and the release of their single “God Save The Queen” which openly attacked the British Monarchy and happened to coincide with the Queens Silver Jubilee.

Rotten announced that he was leaving the band in 1978 after a disastrous tour of the United States and the original broke up shortly after. However the other three members recorded a series of songs using the Sex Pistols name for the  soundtrack of McLaren’s film about the band titled “The Great Rock n Roll Swindle”. In 1979 Vicious died from a heroin overdose after being accused of murdering his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.  They reunited in 1996 with Matlock for the Filthy Lucre tour and have staged several other reunion shows since. They were inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 but did not attend the ceremony due to negative opinions held by the band about the museum.