Over 25 of the country’s best loved music venues have now been confirmed for Red Stripe’s gig series, which is set to run every weekend from January until April 2009. Having worked with live music haunts for over 20 years, Red Stripe has hand-picked some of the nation’s favourite mosh pits to set the scene for the third Red Stripe Music Award. Kicking off on Friday 16th January at Barfly in Cardiff, the gig series will hit Liverpool’s legendary Zanzibar, the award winning Harley in Sheffield and the Box in Glasgow.

Keen to provide unknown bands and artists with a suitable platform, the four month music showcase is a way of supporting emerging talent, working with local promoters, press and music specialists. Many of the venues are known for hosting some of today’s most exciting acts. Brudenell Social Club in Leeds is most famous for hosting secret gigs for bands like Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs and The Cellar in Oxford is where Foals played some of their first ever gigs.

New to 2009 are Dingwalls in London and Cardiff Barfly along with some up and coming young venues such as Moho in Manchester. Described by many locals as ‘a refuge for musical misfits’, the venue has recently been taken over by Embrace frontman, Danny McNamara. “We work with a lot of new bands at Moho, who just want to get out there and play,” says McNamara. “This gig series isn’t a ‘battle of the bands’ but an opportunity for people with talent to perform at venues they might not normally get the chance.”