Steve Lamacq to host special live 6 Music show for T-shirt Day
BBC Radio 6 Music’s T-shirt Day is an annual event where the station’s listeners wear their favourite band tee, showing love for their favourite artist.
All day, from 5am-7pm, Chris Hawkins, Lauren Laverne, Mary Anne Hobbs, Craig Charles and Steve Lamacq take requests, playing music exclusively via ‘Requests from your Chests’.
They play only the tracks by the artists on listener tees, who send in requests by sharing a picture wearing their band or artist T-shirt on social media, using the hashtag #TShirtDay.
This year will be the 15th 6 Music T-shirt Day and it will take place on Friday 4 November.
Steve Lamacq will host a 15th anniversary special by presenting his show live from the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in London, before a live audience of band t-shirt wearing listeners together with Sports Team as his house band.
Fresh from releasing their newly released second album, the band will perform a selection of classic t-shirt related covers, plus a set of their own tracks as a programme finale.
For the first, time this year a panel of specially invited judges will judge “The Polyester Prize” to find the best design, from a shortlist of iconic band T-shirts put together by Steve, his team and listener suggestions.
The lead judge on the panel will be Jo Whiley, who is joined by musician and artist Orlando Weeks, who studied illustration at Brighton University before spending a decade in the band, The Maccabees.
Musician Roisin Murphy, known for her extravagant and avant-garde on stage outfits, will also be a judge. She has been mixing fashion and music since she first came to prominence as part of Moloko in the 90s and released her fifth solo album Róisín Machine in 2020.
Completing the judging line-up is Lee Widdows, author, trend consultant and strategic adviser for Fashion and Textiles at the University of the Creative Arts.
Steve will also be joined by a number of special guests who will be announced near the time.
Famous names who have taken part in previous years, showing their love for their favourite artists, include Jodie Whittaker, Kate Moss, Helena Christensen, Fearne Cotton, Chrissie Hynde, Noel Fielding, Simon Pegg and Lizzo.
Steve says: “T-Shirt Day has become a special moment in the 6 Music year, where we can all show off our favourite music-related T-shirts which we’ve acquired over the years, whether they were bought online last week or been stuffed into a drawer since our teens.
“Whatever the shirt, they all tell a story or say something about the people we are. And it’s lovely to spend a day sharing those tales and reliving the memories they conjure up.
“Once again, we’re going to be throwing out the playlist for the day and playing nothing but music by the artists who appear on listeners shirts.
“And as it’s T-Shirt day’s 15th anniversary, we’re going to finish the day with a special show at the BBC Maida Vale studios with live music and guests and a look at some of our favourite iconic music T-shirt designs.”
The programme will also be on BBC Sounds to listen to on demand and available for 30 days.