Sheffield Students’ Union have announced the line-up for the online edition of Underpass festival after organisers were forced to postpone the physical festival due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, a virtual festival will now take place on Saturday 30 May via YouTube, with the likes of Larkins, Red Rum Club, APRE, Gizmo Varillas and The Covasettes all booked to play from home.
In its inaugural year, Underpass was supposed to take place in the SU on the first weekend of May, with the rescheduled festival now set to take place in October.
Others announced today include Luna Bay, Cora Pearl, Twenty Eighth Club and rising stars Ten Hands High.
The virtual festival will all be in the name of charity with artists playing for free and any donations received going to three charities: NHS Charities Together, Foodhall and RAG at the SU.
The virtual festival will also run alongside a fundraising initiative, announced on Wednesday. ‘Run-derpass’ and ‘Fun-derpass’ are encouraging students and student groups to raise money for charity in the run up to the festival – by encouraging them to run a 5k or bake a cake respectively, tag five friends and donate a fiver to charity.
“The last few months have been enormously difficult for everybody and I’m very hopeful that this event will be able to bring some positivity to our lives” said SU President Jake Verity.
“As many of our students have had the end to their academic year cut short, this event should hopefully be able to offer our students something to enjoy.
“This event is in aid of some fantastic charities and I’m hoping that Underpass can be a real force for good for both our students, the city and the country.”