The Big Gig Thread 2020

[Sporting]

Never heard or heard of Sink Ya Teeth before, Youtubed a bit, Very nice music.

[scratchmonkey]

Mods show got postponed to October, thankfully, for all my wrongheaded "the show must go on" blather before things got pretty obviously worse.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Was going to see Martin Hayes' new band this week and Adwaith in a couple of weeks time - both now cancelled.

Going to watch Ani Glass' and Georgia Ruth's virtual instagram gig tonight though.

[elguapo4]

Hopeful news following consultation between the arts minister and venue owners and promoters. Live music may return shortly with no alcohol being served. The latter doesn't bother me, I rarely drink at indoor gigs, and one of the major pains in the arse is getting constantly bumped into by people coming and going from the bar.

[Benjm]

London's Blues Kitchen bar/restaurants have been advertising live music in some form for a few weeks now. Van Morrison is playing two socially distanced concerts at the Electric Ballroom this coming weekend, supposedly. These sound like semi-stunt events to prove that it can be done. We're not hearing much in the way of firm re-opening plans from the well known smaller venues.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

London's Blues Kitchen bar/restaurants have been advertising live music in some form for a few weeks now. Van Morrison is playing two socially distanced concerts at the Electric Ballroom this coming weekend, supposedly. These sound like semi-stunt events to prove that it can be done. We're not hearing much in the way of firm re-opening plans from the well known smaller venues.

Those Van Morrison gigs are very expensive, although for fans I suppose it's an opportunity to see him in a relatively intimate setting.

We're going to see Frank Turner at one of those socially distanced outdoor gigs at Newcastle racecourse next week. You are allocated a pen, and they have tables and chairs (and a fridge, I believe), and pre-ordering for food and drink.

[Benjm]

Those Van Morrison gigs are very expensive, although for fans I suppose it's an opportunity to see him in a relatively intimate setting.

Yes, he regularly plays premium priced shows in smaller venues than you'd expect in London anyway so it's not a massive shock to the system for his fans. It's not a transferable model for many other bands.

I'll be interested to hear what you make of the distanced outdoor show, Walts.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Yes, he regularly plays premium priced shows in smaller venues than you'd expect in London anyway so it's not a massive shock to the system for his fans. It's not a transferable model for many other bands.

I'll be interested to hear what you make of the distanced outdoor show, Walts.

A mate was at the Supergrass a couple of weeks ago and spoke very highly of the set-up, the light and sound production was apparently surprisingly good. I think a lot depends on where you are allocated, as it is basically 2,500 people spread over a space that could easily accommodate 20,000 in normal times, so the back pens are some distance from the stage (but they are on platforms). I don't think this is a sustainable model either, think they have been reliant on the sponsorship from Virgin Money to get them on. For this show it was ?25 per person and a flat ?20 per "pen", regardless of how many you have in (but think the max. is 5).

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

....all went surprisingly well, was impressed how well organised it was. Some of the aspects of the detailed instructions turned out to be red herrings - you had to put your car reg in when buying the tickets but no one was checking them, and you were given a 20 minute arrival window but that didn't seem to be checked (and we were slightly early anyway) but can see why they wanted to be seen to do something to control access. We were allocated pen 43 out of 500 so were close to the stage. I didn't pre-order food or drink but even that turned out to be you were sent a voucher to pick it up at the bar. There were fridges in the VIP pens but the rest had a washing up bowl with water in, in order to keep cans etc cool.

But anyway it was overall positive, the distancing was well observed and the pens spread out a bit more than strictly necessary. They had a good set up - it looked, sounded and felt like a proper gig - and it's a pity they couldn't have got it up and running earlier in the summer and got a few more things on. I don't think anyone is getting rich off the whole thing, and as I said earlier I think Virgin Money and to a lesser extent other sponsors are underwriting it. Last night's show was maybe half-sold, which made it easier getting out afterwards.

Unless they announce something else interesting (things are getting added at fairly short notice) that'll be it for me again until 2021.

[Benjm]

Thanks, Walts; glad it went well. I'm increasingly convinced that I won't be seeing anything this side of Christmas. The Jazz Cafe has reopened, with some kind of distancing plan for the downstairs presumably. The names coming up seem to be at the less well known/tribute act end of their usual roster, at a guess reflecting the financial constraints from a reduced capacity as well as bigger acts not being out on tour. The Barbican have announced some concerts for the autumn; The Divine Comedy, Richard Dawson and a few more. The capacity in the hall has been reduced to a couple of hundred (down from 1950) so the audience are props for the livestream as much as anything else. The Barbican has a membership scheme so it's unlikely that many tickets will find their way to general sale.

[Benjm]

Here's the distanced seating plan for the downstairs at the Jazz Cafe, usually an unreserved standing area. The venue capacity is reduced from 450 to 150.

I can see myself developing a spotterish interest in how different venues approach this.

[Benjm]

I've booked a ticket for Richard Dawson's distanced show at the Barbican later this month, with a few returns having come in. It won't be a massive blow if it ends up being cancelled, and the situation could easily change in three weeks, but it's nice to have something in the diary.

Further ahead, I booked for next January's Rockaway Beach festival pretty much upon getting back from this year's event. The chances of it going ahead seem vanishingly small (all Butlins music weekends to the end of the year were cancelled some time ago) but it hasn't officially been postponed yet. The end of next week is the deadline for attendees to pay the balance of any outstanding ticket money and there's a slight suspicion that they may be trying to get those funds in before announcing the postponement and offering to transfer bookings to the following year.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

The O2 in London appears to be launching a series of low capacity, "distanced" gigs, with Squeeze first up in early December. Apparently 4,700 limit in the otherwise 20,000 capacity main arena. This seems remarkably optimistic.

[Benjm]

Even if they can safely distribute that number around the arena, getting them in and out will be quite a challenge.

Edit: 'safely' probably not quite the right word there.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Found more details on it:

The O2 arena has announced it will host its first live music event for more than eight months, with British band Squeeze set to play to socially distanced fans on Saturday 5^th December 2020. The arena event is a major step forward in getting the live event industry back up and running after all venues were closed in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The socially distanced event will see the venue’s capacity reduced from 20,000 to 4700, with tickets being sold in groups of twos, threes and fours only and a seating configuration which is in line with the UK government’s one metre plus guidelines. Seats will remain empty between each group and one-way routes have been installed throughout the arena and concourse.

To ensure the customer experience is contactless, all ticketing will use AXS Mobile ID via The O2 venue app, which also enables pre-ordering of food and drink as well as merchandise to reduce queuing with fast collection lanes.

Visitors will only be allowed to bring a single clear bag into the arena and the wearing of face coverings will be mandatory, except when eating and drinking within the seats. The show will end by 10pm to allow fans to leave the site safely at a distance.

The O2 has purchased electrostatic foggers to deliver a charged anti-bacterial spray across the venue that will envelope all surfaces, providing protection for up to 30 days, with a heightened cleaning regime before, during and after the event.

[Benjm]

Thanks, Walts, that is interesting. The grouping of tickets must be what makes the high sounding capacity possible. The venue presumably asks attendees to respect any restrictions upon households mixing within their groups without taking on an active checking or enforcement role. The Barbican's instructions are that pairs of tickets should only be used by members of a single household/support bubble, which is ahead of the current local position (erm, I think) but in line with the further restrictions that are widely expected to be introduced.

Inside the arena is one thing but an equal if not greater challenge for maintaining distancing has to be funnelling the thick end of 5,000 people into the approaches to the venue for an event with a single start time. The O2's geographical situation means that pressure points are inevitable. The time of year won't help.

I don't mean to sound overly cautious or negative but the societal discussion will at some point have to address the question of acceptable risk more directly, with the great complication that the risk isn't shouldered solely by those who want to attend events, of whatever kind.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Agree there's a lot more to it than just have some seats taped off once you're inside - that Newcastle racecourse gig I went to had phased arrival times (which weren't enforced in practice, as far as I could tell) so maybe they'll attempt that approach but it becomes fairly redundant when everyone leaves at the same time and all pile onto the same public transport afterwards (the racecourse gigs didn't have that problem as everyone arrived by car).

I'm surprised they have got the go-ahead to do this (or maybe they haven't yet), particularly when e.g. a few miles away Orient aren't allowed to let half that number into an open air stadium. Maybe the lower divisions are missing a trick and just need to invest in "electrostatic foggers".

[Benjm]

Slightly late in reporting but I went to see Richard Dawson at the Barbican on Sunday. They were taking distancing very seriously with a single entry point, one way system and lots of staff to enforce it and single bar with queuing system. In the hall, every other row of seats was left empty and on the rows in use there was a three seat gap between each set of sold seats and its neighbour on either side. The available seats were mostly in pairs, with a few singles and threes. Seats in use were marked with orange tape so it was apparent that quite a few pairs only had a lone occupant, perhaps because of the instruction that only one household/bubble should occupy them.

The event was being live streamed and the effect of the restricted capacity was to make it feel like being in the studio audience for a broadcast, rather than at a concert that happens to be being filmed. It is nice to be there but you know at the back of your mind that it is ultimately being staged for the benefit of the distant audience.

I mostly know Richard Dawson's work from what I've heard on Radio 6 evening shows but this seemed a fair representation of his thing. He was emotional about being back onstage (a friend has been trying to go to a Newcastle show that is on its third reschedule). He did a couple of lengthy acapella numbers and a surf-folk instrumental as well as guitar accompanied material. Sometimes the songs began to soar in an almost Springsteen-esque manner but his instinct then seems to be to rein it in, as if it is too much like an easy win. As a lyricist he is very good at catching details of modern life, as well as representing historical subjects with immediacy, avoiding hey-nonny cod folkisms. The running time was shorter than usual, due to the broadcast and the curfew, but I don't think he is an act who could easily tailor a more accessible festival-type set as all the different elements are as important as each other in his artistic make up.

That'll be it for me for the year and foreseeable future, I suppose. Small venue shows don't appeal at the moment, even with distancing measures in place.

[Benjm]

The Rockaway Beach festival in January has been cancelled, as expected. They're don't have a 2022 date planned so that could be the end of it in its current form, which is a shame. Butlins have been swift to process refunds and I would definitely go to one of their music weekends again if the bill appealed.