Frightened Rabbit return for mass ‘sleep-out’
● Band will feature a series of guest singers after frontman’s death
Indie-rock band Frightened Rabbit are to play their first gig since singer Scott Hutchison’s tragic death in May – as part of the country-wide “Sleep in the Park” event in December.
A special performance will be staged at Kelvingrove Bandstand in Glasgow a year after the band appeared at Social Bite’s fundraiser in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh.
The Twilight Sad vocalist James Graham will be among several guests to perform with band members Grant Hutchison, Billy Kennedy and Andy Monaghan.
The 36-year-old singer’s body was found near South Queensferry nearly two days after he went missing. A host of leading bands paid tribute to Hutchison, widely regarded as one of the nation’s most talented songwriters, who had openly discussed his mental
0 Frightened Rabbit, featuring late lead singer Scott Hutchison, performed at last year’s Sleep in the Park
health problems. His brother Grant revealed the group had signed up to take part in this year’s event before his sibling passed away and had decided to go ahead with the gig and perform in his honour.
Social Bite has revealed Eddi Reader, Lulu and Kyle Falconer will be among the other acts lined up for sleep-out events, which will be staged in Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
He is hoping 12,000 participants will raised more than £6 million by taking part in the event, which is being staged as part of Social Bite’s drive to rid Scotland of homelessness.
Grant Hutchison said: “We
had agreed to play Sleep In The Park before Scott passed and we felt that since it was something for such a great cause that we should stick to our decision and honour Scott in the best way we know – to play the songs he wrote and continue spreading his message of kindness whilst supporting Social Bite and the amazing work they do.
“It’s an honour to play for such a special event again and we felt it would be the perfect time for us to play together again and share this special night with some of our favourite artists.”
Social Bite founder Josh Littlejohn said Frightened Rabbit’s appearance would be hugely poignant because of the expected turnout of fans of Hutchison and the “huge overlap” between homelessness and mental health.
He said: “Frightened Rabbit were incredibly enthusiastic about being involved with Sleep in the Park again this year and we were really excited about working with them again. Obviously we thought that was all off the table after what happened, but I met Grant a few months later at an awards ceremony where Scott was honoured and we got talking after that. The idea is to have a really special, unique, performance.”