St Albans’ The Horn, a Cradle for Future Music Stars, Marks 50th Anniversary

Luke Hinton, promoter of The Horn, a grassroots music venue in St Albans, stated that without establishments like it, “you wouldn’t have the future headliners for Glastonbury.” The venue, currently marking its 50th anniversary, has hosted performances by notable artists such as U2, Tom Grennan, and Chrissie Hynde. Mr. Hinton characterized The Horn as the place where “artists learn their craft,” a stage also graced by Years & Years and Yungblud. Historically, singer Kim Wilde was employed behind its bar, and 80s icon Paul Young launched his career there, performing weekly with his band Streetband. A special 50th-anniversary celebration event, featuring the alternative covers band Allergy, is scheduled to commence at 20:00 GMT on Saturday. Mr. Hinton stated: “It’s a grassroots music venue which has live music six nights a week, ranging from local artists and international artists playing early shows. One of its strengths is we’ve supported bands from the local area like Paul Young, Enter Shikari, The Subways, Friendly Fires, and Tom Grennan. It’s had a long and illustrious history, U2 played here in the late 70s, Motorhead, and Bastille. We’re the research and development sector of the music industry, without venues like The Horn you don’t have future headliners for Glastonbury.” The promoter, who has been associated with the venue for 17 years, further commented: “It’s where artists learn their craft and they discover what they do and how they do it. It’s also the training ground for the whole industry, sound engineers and events promoters.” He observed that numerous artists who have performed at the venue, which accommodates up to 200 people, eventually progress to perform at major venues like Wembley and Glastonbury. He affirmed: “We will continue to showcase and support new artists. We can’t rely on the bands of yesterday to be there forever, so we need new artists to keep coming through.” Mr. Hinton expressed his hope for a book about the venue to be released next year. He extended an invitation for individuals with memories and photographs of The Horn to make contact.