Alistair Griffin - coming to a garden near you!

Lancashire fans of musician Alistair Griffin may soon be enjoying an al fresco concert in their own back garden.
Alistair has fans across the countryAlistair has fans across the country
Alistair has fans across the country

Alistair, a former BBC Fame Academy runner-up, who has had a top-20 album and two top-20 singles has come up with a novel idea to get past the restrictions put on musicians due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

If his army of loyal fans, some of whom are in Preston, Blackpool and Fleetwood can no longer come to him to watch his performances - he's taking the music to their door instead.

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Alistair, 42, says with music venues closed and social distancing in place for the foreseeable future musicians must adapt and innovate.

And in that spirit he has created the 'Tour of Social Distance', which he describes as: "A tour that respects the rules of social distancing but takes music back out on the road and puts the fans in the driving seat…literally."

Alistair will be going on a road trip with a difference, travelling up and down the country in a campervan and putting on a personal show at a distance from fan's back gardens, drives and patios.

With a blank tour poster, ten dates to fill and a map of Britain he says he will ask fans to literally tell him where to go.

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And with fans across Lancashire he should be paying the county a visit before ultimately ending up in his final destination of County Cork, Ireland. Fans who want Alistair to play in their gardens are being asked to apply on line and will be picked at random.

During lockdown, York based Alistair has been hosting regular Facebook live sessions, performing acoustic sets from home to his fans, often with his five-year-old son Tom making a guest appearance.

And he also recorded an album of covers titled: "Songs from a room" to mark the period in time.

The fans themselves have been encouraged to interact via messaging while he is singing and have become an on-line community as a result.

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He says of the tour: "The idea was sparked by a fan from Ireland called Margaret, who as a consequence of her receiving cancer treatment faces a continued lockdown.

"Margaret has been a regular on the Facebook sessions but is desperate to see a real live performance.

"As that is looking unlikely for some time I decided to take the live show to Margaret’s home in Skibbereen and the Tour of Social Distance was born."

Alistair has achieved success with his song The Road, recorded with former Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh in 2014, which was the official song for the Tour de France's Grand Depart in Yorkshire.

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His song Just Drive was also used as the theme tune for Sky Sports F1's coverage from 2012 to 2018.

Now, he is working on another original album after crowdfunding during the lockdown, as well as preparing for the tour.

He says: "This will be a tour the likes of which has never been seen or done before.

"Of course in line with current Covid guidelines the shows will be outside, Covid safe and will follow all social distancing rules."

"But the show must go on."

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