It’s pretty much official. As long as the Covid social distancing rules stay in place live music is pretty much dead – at least as far as indoor events are concerned.
The point was proven earlier this week when, in the 1,250-capacity Clapham Grand, only 200 people made up the audience at a sold-out show.
Get yourself a signed Frank Turner setlist
This was the maximum number the space could accommodate under current guidelines.
Tickets were priced fairly reasonably – although at the top end of what you might expect to pay for a Frank Turner / Beans on Toast / Caira Haidar gig. A table for three came in at just under £100 for instance.
However – and this is the crux of it – even with the artists playing for a few beers, the show (only the second in the government-approved pilot series) didn’t even break even on costs.
As venue manager Ally Wolf said to the BBC, this is simply “not a financial model that the industry can remotely rely upon to get to be sustainable”.
In layman’s terms, any venue trying to run gigs at this level of income would be bankrupt within a few weeks.
And as things stand there is no line in the sand in any of the government’s published plans for when venues can re-open normally.
Will it be when a vaccine is shown to work and in production?
Probably not.
Will it be when a given percentage of the population have been vaccinated?
Maybe – but what percentage?
And all this time you can still jump on a plane and sit alongside a bunch of strangers for a few hours no questions asked. Go figure!
Going back to the Clapham gig there were other issues to consider beyond the simple restrictions on numbers.
- no singing along to songs
- no standing up and clapping
- limited bar service – so that means extra bar staff needed for table service and longer waiting times for drinks meaning lower bar take per customer.
Most importantly though for audiences is loss of the defining spirit of what makes a great gig… and that is the atmosphere and sense of belonging generated by a room packed full of like-minded people, all close-packed and swaying in harmony.
Oddly though, tonight’s show actually does work in a strange way – despite it feeling like a cabaret style jazz club.
But that’s because these three performers warrant patient and quiet attention as their songs reach out to your mind as much as (if not more than) your heart and your ears.
But put Skindred or Idles up on a stage in this sort of environment and it simply wouldn’t work.
The irony of this being a government experiment was not lost on either Frank Turner, nor Jay ‘Beans on Toast’ McAllister. Both artists are the epitomy of anti-establishment polemic – and with their festival credentials it’s highly likely that if you do see any large-scale live music events this year you will be seeing them outdoors.
But not at a festival as we know it.
For instance ‘We Are Not A Festival’ is the name of one of the few event/non-events that you can (if you are lucky) see Beans play at. And it is clearly not a festival in the traditional sense of the word.
Rather it’s a woodland retreat in a campsite operating at 10% capacity.
Elsewhere in the UK you are still hard-pressed to find credible outdoor venues of any significant size beyond the odd pub beer garden with a pallet stage under an awning.
There are a few though – so if you do crave that live experience more than anything else it’s perhaps worth having a look around.
In Norfolk, for instance, you’ll be able to go along to a good few food festivals that also have music on the menu…although don’t expect many big names.
https://www.edp24.co.uk/going-out/food-festivals-in-norfolk-in-2020-1-6770699
And down in the West Country the Big Sheep promises some interesting attractions…including Mark Chadwick amongst others.
Later in the year HRH are planning a monster bash – so fingers horned they will be able to go ahead with what looks like a cracking metal party.
Closer to now it seems the authorities have agred the latest installment of BeCider Seaside can go ahead – although it’s been announced it will be a somewhat different beast.
You are more likely to catch chart acts at the Virgin Money Unity Arena up in Newcastle.
This looks likely to be popular as it will undoubtedly host some cool bands who will play out to a space covered in individual platforms which can be booked for your ‘bubble’.
But if folk if more your thing hang around until November for the Great British Folk Festival… or why not give te Beardy Folk Festival a go in September?
We’ve also spotted out favourite little Ragged Bear is back this year – as is Suffolk’s Red Rooster...and even Old Bush Blues is hanging on by the skin of it’s teeth as we type, as is Feral Fest.
Elsewhere you might want to check out Hastings Pier on a Friday evening or a Sunday lunchtime.
This looks right now to be the UK’s largest capacity regular live music space – and it boasts the best ever view for bands as they play out over the heads of up to 600 music fans to the azure waters of the English Channel. Get there early though, because it’s free entry and the 100 tables get snapped up very quickly.
Redcatz Hastings Pier 
Reshad
