A CHART-TOPPING singer-songwriter is returning to his hometown to support grassroots music venues.

Passenger will play an intimate gig at Brighton’s Komedia – but there are a couple of twists.

There is currently no date given for the performance and tickets must be won through an online campaign.

The gig is one of several organised by Passport: Back To Our Roots, a campaign aiming to save grassroots music venues from closure after the coronavirus crisis brought a swift end to live entertainment.

It is raising money to support sites across the country through a crowdfunder, with fans donating £5 or more entered into a prize draw with winners being awarded tickets to see some of their favourite artists.

Passenger, real name Mike Rosenberg, is one of the artists to have offered his services to support the cause.

The singer, whose single Let Her Go reached number one in countries across the world, was born in Brighton and developed his talent busking on the city’s streets.

As a result, he named Brighton’s Komedia as his venue of choice for the gig.

He said: “I’m delighted to be able to play at the Komedia again.

“It’s a venue that I used to play frequently when I was starting out and it will be lovely to go back.”

Other artists to have pledged their support behind the campaign are KT Tunstall, the Pet Shop Boys and Russell Watson, who will be playing shows elsewhere in the UK.

Two further artists will be revealed on BBC Radio Six Music tomorrow, the station’s “State Of Independents Day”. The prize draw to win tickets will be open from Monday until October 5.

This is the second time Passport: Back To Our Roots has run the competition.

The first Crowdfunder, which offered music-lovers the chance to win tickets to see the likes of Elbow, Public Service Broadcasting, Everything Everything, The Slow Readers Club and Ash, raised £75,000.

The campaign’s co-founder Sally Cook said “We’re blown away by the incredible response to the first block of fundraisers and want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated and to every artist who pledged to play a grassroots venue show.

“The outpouring of support just proves how important grassroots venues are to the UK’s music fans.

“£75k is an amazing start and will help make a real difference to the venues involved and the sector as a whole, but we’re not stopping there.

“We are really excited to be announcing this new group of artists this week.”

Of the money raised, 80 per cent will go to the Music Venue Trust, who in turn will distribute half of the amount to the host venue with the remainder going into their crisis fund.

This will be used to help venues in need of financial support.

The remaining 20 per cent will go to Inner City Music, the charitable organisation that operates the music venue Band on the Wall in Manchester which is responsible for the administration of the project and will cover its overheads.