One of the best things about working in live music is getting to watch the strange, unpredictable journey artists take.
Sometimes someone walks onto the Troxy stage with decades of music behind them and an audience that knows every word. Sometimes an artist is further down the bill, or arrives just as something is beginning to happen for them, and a few years later you realise you witnessed a very mad moment in their story.
Those are the gigs people love to talk about afterwards. I saw them when…
It’s International Music Day, so looking around at the posters in the Troxy office, there are some genuine living legends keeping us company every day.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds played Troxy’s first major public gig after the venue returned to live events. Patti Smith, New Order, The Specials, Robbie Williams, Jack White and Siouxsie have all played our stage. Then, in 2024, The Cure chose Troxy for the launch of Songs of a Lost World. Watching a band with that history perform live for a show shared with fans around the world was one of those nights when you’re acutely aware of what a privilege it is to work in a venue like this.
In 2021, our Love Not War show for War Child featured Elbow, Bastille, Rudimental, Corinne Bailey Rae, Ray BLK, Miles Kane and Lola Young. Fast-forward a few years and Lola has had a global hit with Messy, topped the UK singles chart and become one of the most talked-about British artists of her generation. There’ll be people who can now casually drop into conversation: “Oh yeah, I saw Lola Young at Troxy in 2021.”
Fred again.., Skrillex and Four Tet gave us another one of those moments in 2023. A last-minute show, massive demand for tickets and three artists at a pivotal point in their careers. Fred’s rise since then has been remarkable, including stepping up to headline Reading & Leeds. Ezra Collective are part of the Troxy story too, going on to become the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize.
Venues have to make space for both the established names and the artists still carving out their path. We’re lucky with Troxy that there’s a long history of putting on wildly varied gigs and events. We can be curious and take risks, celebrating artists with huge followings in Chile, Pakistan or Ukraine and giving them a home in London. We can put things into the diary because they’re exciting, even if they don’t fit neatly into a particular box.
There have been weeks here that move from Editors to Viagra Boys, Dexta Daps, Black Veil Brides, Röyksopp and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Across the years we’ve had grime from Kano, jazz and hip-hop, electronic music from the likes of Four Tet, Kaytranada and Orbital, goth icons, punk bands, reggae, dancehall, metal, indie, soul, Latin music and artists arriving from every corner of the world.
That variety is a huge part of what makes Troxy what it is. The artists we now call legends were once playing smaller shows, finding their audience and figuring out what kind of performers they wanted to be. Somewhere in London tonight, that process will be happening again.
Part of our job is making sure there are still stages for it to happen on.
So on International Music Day, we’re raising a glass to the artists who have already given us decades of extraordinary music, the ones currently racing upwards, and the venues across the UK keeping their doors open so those gigs can keep happening.