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  • Writer's pictureZoe Wheeler

What Does The Future Hold For Live Music?

The government announced £1.5 billion of support for arts industries following the coronavirus outbreak. Before this news broke, a campaign, known as Let The Music Play, had been circulating on social media. The campaign sought to achieve funding for the live music scene which had been left with little support since the outbreak. Several weeks of pressure on the government has allowed music venues to face less fear of closure until they are able to reopen. However, despite the proposed support, many venues have been questioning what the future of live shows will look like when they are allowed to resume.



A recent article published by NME has suggested moshing and crowd surfing will be strictly prohibited when gigs are allowed to return. Furthermore, the crowd itself is expected to be socially distanced. Although, this kind of set up may be able to work for some concerts, the idea of this being put into practice at pop punk and emo shows doesn’t seem plausible or even desirable. Live music isn’t expected to return until later on in 2021 which may allow time for gigs to reopen in the same way as before but with little to no guidance it is hard to say how accurate this information is.



This also leaves the question, would fans still want to attend a socially distanced concert? Throughout the whole of lockdown, many bands have been livestreaming and playing music for their fans to enjoy from the comfort of their own home. There was even a Minecraft festival, BlockByBlockWest, which was so popular the server crashed the first time round causing it to be rescheduled to a later date. This suggests that fans are still enjoying the live music experience from home and may be interested in attending gigs even if it means they have to stand apart from other fans. A socially distanced gig could be something that would be of interest to some fans as it means they are still able to see the bands they love and have a good time with their friends. However, I think part of the appeal, for me at least, is the thrill of moshing and crowd surfing so being in a spaced out crowd could put fans off attending gigs.



It's also fair to suggest that the bigger the artist and the venue, the bigger the 'queuing culture' seems to be. If fans wanted to queue all day but had to do so in a socially distanced matter, the queues would even longer than before, and it would be hard to enforce especially when entering the venue. It’s important to also take into account exiting the venue and using the facilities such as the toilets and accessing the bar. With little to no insight as to when gigs will be able to resume I think it could be fair to suggest that there will be no gigs, at least in the way we know them, until later on in 2021 or when coronavirus is a distant memory.



Alternatives to the usual concert format have been introduced by LiveNation, with the introduction of UK-wide drive-in gigs. A post on the LiveNation website describes the event, saying: “Utilita Live from the Drive-In is a series of live drive-in concerts across 12 venues in the UK this summer.” The event will see a variety of artists perform including names such as Kaiser Chiefs, The Streets and SIX the Musical. This kind of event could be an insight into how gigs will go forward until coronavirus is seen as less of a risk to public health. It will be interesting to see how popular of a show this will prove to be and if any other artists would wish to follow in the footsteps of this event.

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