O2 promotes new acts with free gigs

The O2 will host a series of free gigs next month to promote more than 100 up and coming acts.

The December Sessions will take place every night for a period of 20 days on a specially constructed stage with an audience capacity of 4,000.

Those performing include former Hoosiers frontman Irwin Sparkes' new band The Sea and I, London trio Belakiss who include Ringo Starr's granddaughter Tatia and Son Of Jack, who recently toured and recorded with Chrissie Hynde.

Each night between December 3 and 22 five acts from a variety of genres will perform on the stage in the London Piazza area of the old Millennium Dome, next to The O2 arena.

The O2 spokeswoman Suzi Kent said: "We see some of the world's biggest recording artists performing at The O2 in our world famous arena, so it was incredibly important for us to create something that supports a new generation of bands on the up.

"December Sessions is all about celebrating new music and giving music fans a chance to see these bands, for free, in an environment that they wouldn't normally play at this stage of their careers."

The December Sessions will also include an exhibition by music photographer Carsten Windhorst and a Routemaster bus that has been transformed into a moving museum by The British Music Experience.