666 : The Dystopian World of Live Music, What Next?

If you read the comments on Facebook regarding the few festivals that are left, you will see that opinions divide neatly into two camps: those desperate for the events to go ahead and those weary of ever again being within two meters of another human being. This split is also evident in national research on how the general public view the potential return to some form of normality. On Radio Five this morning, they hypothesised that if Coronavirus stuck around for years to come, there could develop a real suspicion of social mixing that would intrinsically change the way that we operate as human beings. This has led me to mulling over how this will affect live music.

Is social distancing a viable option at Download?

Seeing bands perform in sweaty claustrophobic venues has always been the beating heart of Heavy Metal, but in the last ten years it has also become the music industries go to business model. Shows, tours and festivals have become how the artists in our world earn their daily bread, recorded material has been relegated to a process they undertake so that they have stuff for us to sing along to. With the Chief Medical Officer asserting that social distancing will carry on till the end of the year, it is unlikely that there will be any live shows before January 2021. My concern is what they will be like when they finally do resume. As I said above there will be some people desperate to throw themselves straight back into the pit and gig like crazy to make up for the drought that is 2020. But there is likely to be significant proportion of the potential audiences that are weary and even scared by this experience. A probable majority of people that will think twice about being in close proximity to other sweaty, heaving bodies. 

Frankly, I believe that we will see audience sizes halved when gigs eventually return, as people vote with their feet about wanting to be in crowds. I can see this being even more of an issue for Rock and Metal as we have such a diversely aged audience compared to say pop or indie (only one member of the ROCKFLESH family is under forty). Pre-covid the concert market in this country was crowded (hell I could have gigged every night if my wife had let me). Post covid I think this will change. Bands, I believe, will find that half their previous support no longer feel secure to come out and play and therefore the number of tours and size of shows will fall.

Will we live in the dystopian World of Black Futures?

What I am less sure about is what we can do about it? We all saw the bizarre sight from Sweden of social distance gigs, but do we really want to have to stand in our little box having to send emails to our mates about whether they wanted another beer. There is also the potential solution of all gigs being seated with an empty pew between each punter, but if you are watching The Black Dahlia Murder or Venom Prison, do you really want to be tied to a chair and how is that going to work in Rebellion or Satan’s Hollow. Maybe we need to get used to the horrible realisation that some bands will sadly go to the wall and the live scene will shrink as the number of potential punters contracts. There will be less active bands and therefore less gigs as there are less people wanting to go to them. A horrid thought, but is it what the future looks like? As I said I don’t know what we can do. Do we need to start buying records again so bands rely on gigs less? Do venues need to offer home streaming as an option for all shows going forward? Do we need to make PPE mandatory wear for the pit?  I really don’t know, but what I do know is that we can’t assume that it will be business as usual as it certainly won’t.