I’ve always loved going to live shows and enjoyed watching music in venues all over the world. I do it a lot and regularly. What I didn’t realise is that I’m actually addicted to going to shows. I’ve actually been having withdrawal symptoms and tried desperately to replace the role it plays in my life.
However in the last year without live shows I’ve learnt a thing or two about live music and my relationship with it. Theres so many revelations that I would love to share with you but instead I’m limiting it to the top five.
Live Concert Streams are the way forward: In the current hard times, we had to settle for the next best thing, the live stream. Some bands did them for free but the majority of bands had paid for shows that an unlimited number of people could enjoy.
Some live streams were even made watchable for a few days after in case you couldn’t make the live time, perhaps because of timezones. This is handy as normally if you can’t make a show you miss out! So there are some pro’s to the whole thing after all.
It’s needless to say that many bands may continue to offer live streams as a show alternative to bring in revenue during non-touring times. And why not? It seems like a perfectly good idea and it means that even if a band does not come to your town or even country you can still see them perform.
I don’t want to go to socially distanced gigs: Or festivals for that matter. I miss so much about live music that you can not recreate at a socially distanced show. At one point I thought I would give anything to see musicians play live again.
It turns out though that I would not trade off the atmosphere, the dancing, the trying to get a good spot or even the more negative aspects of a show just to watch a band play. Anymore then I would want to be the only person at a show, which is as covid safe as you can get.
Most people overestimate how much money bands make: So many of you thought the musicians would be fine because you feel as if everyone that’s been on the radio or is lucky enough to tour for a living is rich. It’s simply not true.
Many band members have had to take other jobs and with the country in lockdown, they’re doing jobs like Uber Eats delivery. There was already a lot less glamour in their lives then people assume but it’s considerably worse now.
Lots of people think it should not be a problem that musicians have to get ‘real jobs’ but the harsh truth is they already had real jobs! What kind of world would this be if we didn’t have music? A boring one indeed.
I spend a lot of money on shows: A hell of a lot in fact, so in the wake of no shows I’ve added to my vinyl collection, brought band merchandise and I’m still financially better off. At first, I couldn’t work out why I had extra money each month. Then I added up what I would normally spend at a show for another article I was writing and was in shock that it is so much.
I’d like to say that in future I’ll cut down on how much I do spend by buying less merchandise at the gig, or not travelling to another town to see the same band play again, but actually, I won’t. Because the most important thing I’ve learnt from this experience is to grab every good moment with both hands. You never know when they could be snatched away!
Without live music, the whole creative industries suffer: Yep that’s right I said the whole creative industries and I meant it.
