BURY will play host to a group of special guests from New York next week — and they will be performing in a venue with a difference.
"Genre-breaking" American band Gangstagrass are arriving in the town next Thursday to kick off their 10-night UK tour.
The opening night is set to be one of the strangest for the six-piece group — as they will be performing at a military history museum.
Gangstagrass were originally due to perform at The Met in Bury, but it is undergoing refurbishment, so the concert has been moved a short distance to the Fusilier Museum in Moss Street.
A spokesman for the museum said: "It is a little bit out of the ordinary, but we have been helping out the Met while work has been going on there.
"In recent months, we have held a comedy night and a folk festival. It is certainly something different for the museum."
The band, from New York City, have been described as a mixture of hip-hop and bluegrass and their live performances have been billed as "explosive".
They recently finished a US tour and were also on the bill at the South By South West (SXSW) festival in Texas.
The band is made up of singers Rench, R-SON and Dolio, dobro player Landry McMeans, banjo player Dan Whitener and fiddle player Melody Berger
Rench said: "We've been hearing from fans in the UK clamouring for us to tour there since the we formed in 2007, and we are so excited for it to finally come together.
"We know this sound breaks down boundaries and borders and we are going to be having wild bluegrass-hip-hop parties that will blow the minds of UK fans who have appreciated the genre combination in studio recordings but have never seen it go down live."
He added: "We are confident that our UK fans are going to have the same euphoric reaction to seeing a banjo player and rapper get down together that folks here have, and we can't wait to bring this sound into the UK for the first time."
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