A leading music industry lobby group has claimed that live music events such as concerts and festivals will still be safe to go ahead this summer.
But this is all providing the UK government aids in doing so.
A report by UK Music – Let The Music Play: Save Our Summer – said it was confident it could manage health risks if the government set a start date for the industry and introduces proper coronavirus (COVID-19) cancellation insurance.
Its chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin acknowledged the pandemic was still raging, but insisted there was “an end point in sight”.
He continued: “Government is rolling out the vaccine and is openly speculating about returning to normal by the spring – but there is a serious risk that even if this proves to be a reality, lack of notice and available insurance options will mean much of the 2021 summer music season can’t go ahead.”
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The report – which has been published today ahead of a hearing in which music festivals will give evidence on their future to a group of MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee – also called for targeted financial support, an extension to the VAT rate reduction on tickets, a rollover of 2020 Local Authority licence fees to 2021, and an extension to business rates relief.
UK Music unveils new report, Let The Music Play: Save Our Summer 2021, outlining strategy to restart live music industry when safe. #SaveOurSummer2021
According to statistics by UK Music and Live Music Industry Venues & Entertainment (LIVE), the live music industry is significant business that generated £4.7 billion for the UK economy in 2019 alone.
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But it has been almost completely closed since March, and as a devastating result of the coronavirus pandemic and necessary social distancing measures, up to 170,000 jobs throughout the industry as a whole were expected to be lost by Christmas.
Parklife Festival
And the sector is likely to be one of the last to reopen after the pandemic too.
This has meant that there are increasing fears that many venues will have closed for good, and that there will be a lack of skilled staff available when audiences are finally ready to return.
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Jess Murphy – a violinist who organised one of a number of musicians’ protests nationwide in October Let Music Live – said that the ongoing pandemic, along with the complications of touring caused by Brexit, were “absolutely” the perfect storm for the industry.
She continued: “As it stands with the Brexit deal, we don’t know how we can work in the European Union.
“We are desperate for the government to take this seriously and try and help us maybe in the form of some kind of culture and creative passport that allows you to work for say a year at a time, rather than a situation that would be dreadfully difficult to negotiate, where every single person would have to negotiate with every single country if they wanted to do a tour.
“It would get impossible because on a tour you need to be in maybe four different countries at a time just in a week for example.”
You can read the full Let The Music Play: Save Our Summer report via the UK Music website here.
Oasis release trailer for Don’t Look Back In Anger documentary – watch it here
Daisy Jackson
A new trailer for the upcoming Oasis documentary, ‘Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger’, has been released today.
The highly anticipated documentary follows the iconic Manchester rock band as they reunited for a series of epic comeback gigs last summer.
The Gallagher brothers broke up the band 15 years prior to the Live ’25 shows, then returned in spectacular fashion for gigs including five sold-out nights at Heaton Park in Manchester.
The band were followed throughout their triumphant comeback tour by film crews, for the documentary film ‘Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger’.
Fans will see never-before-seen snippets of rehearsal, backstage, and onstage, as well as the first joint interview with Liam and Noel in more than 20 years.
It will also explores the profound impact that the reunion had on fans, and chart the global phenomenon that was Oasis Live ’25.
One of the people behind the new documentary is Steven Knight, of Peaky Blinders fame.
Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger will be released in the UK on Wednesday 9 September and you can book tickets HERE.
Watch the full trailer for Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger below:
Elbow get behind campaign to save Jodrell Bank from closure
Danny Jones
Manc band Elbow are among the latest to get behind the campaign to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from closing permanently.
The Greater Manchester natives famously played a sold-out gig at the important scientific and cultural landmark for a very special live album recording well over a decade ago, and know all too well the site’s national and, indeed, global heritage.
Choosing the Observatory and the rare chance to perform a show in the shadow of the world-renowned James Lovell Telescope, it probably remains one of their most significant standalone UK date ever.
With that in mind, the local lads have been left just as worried by the news of its impending closure as everyone else, and have therefore issued a fresh appeal to help keep it open.
Posting a timely statement on social media, the group wrote: “Jodrell Bank has long been close to elbow’s heart. In 2012, the band played beneath the Lovell Telescope for one of the most memorable shows in our history.
“The recent news that funding for the e-MERLIN radio telescope network is set to end in 2028 puts the future of the scientific work at Jodrell Bank under serious threat. It is a remarkable place, with an extraordinary history, and one that continues to play an important role in science, culture and education.”
In addition to reliving clips and images from the historic live set all the years later, they also pointed people towards their ‘elbow – Live at Jodrell Bank‘ album documentary, which has now been made available online for the very first time as part of wider efforts to raise awareness around the cause.
Directing people to key online resources shared by the institution and astrophysics centre itself following their unfortunate update late last month, the push to not only find the funding but sustain support for the facility continues to ramp up throughout the world of science, arts and industry.
For anyone who somehow missed the news – 2028 being the current deadline handed down as per budget cuts across the sector – concerned parties here in the North West and all over the country have since started petitioning to save Jodrell Bank Observatory from shutting down for good.
In addition to being described as a “huge blow” to the field by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), some have even gone so far as to describe the decision as a form of “vandalism” when it comes to research and British culture as a whole.
Having also served as the host venue for the annual bluedot Festival since 2016, the multi-genre science and arts celebration could soon be forced to find a new home.
The battle is far from over yet, and the community has time to rescue Jodrell Bank Observatory from its fate, but it will take lots of money and more notable public figures to make it happen.
Once again, you can do your bit by signing the petition mentioned above right HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
5th January 2021 
