The UK live scene post lockdown

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The gigging scene wasn’t exactly in great shape before the lockdown turned us all into Jedi hermits, what do folk reckon are the best ways to breathe new life into it when the restraining order is lifted? Any new ideas to keep the beer money flowing?
'Vot eva happened to the Transylvanian Tvist?'
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    @WezV How long do you think it will take to get pubs up and running again once the lockdown is lifted? Will it be a phased start up, initially with bottled drinks, with keg beer following once brewing restarts?
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • JalapenoJalapeno Frets: 6378
    I reckon it'll go bonkers initially - trying to get punters in by any means !
    Imagine something sharp and witty here ......

    Feedback
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16541
    Roland said:
    @WezV How long do you think it will take to get pubs up and running again once the lockdown is lifted? Will it be a phased start up, initially with bottled drinks, with keg beer following once brewing restarts?
    Totally depends on how the government decides to restart things.  We expect them to stagger it somehow

    But expect a couple of weeks to start getting kegged beer out of a brewery at reasonable volume again.  Some pubs will be able to start as soon as they have a delivery.  Some won't have followed advice to keep equipment working.   For some, this follows multiple closures due to flooding.

    Cider should be more reliable as it has a longer shelf life

    Bottles and cans should be fine as nobody is stopped from brewing.
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  • maltingsaudiomaltingsaudio Frets: 3097
    edited April 2020
    News from Shepton Mallet.. just been past the cider mill they are still working with loads ready to ship!
    www.maltingsaudio.co.uk
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  • CeeJayCeeJay Frets: 455
    Whichever way it goes, I'll be sticking to bottled beers for quite some time. There will be some very suspect beer lines which haven't been maintained. Oh, and I won't ever set foot in a Wetherspoons again.

    On the gigging front, I guess it will gradually creep back to 'as you were'.
    I had tickets to see Peter Buck in April. It has been re-scheduled to October.
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 16541
    CeeJay said:
    Whichever way it goes, I'll be sticking to bottled beers for quite some time. There will be some very suspect beer lines which haven't been maintained. 
    Currently we have a load of people calling round pubs advising on the best approach to this.  They are having a 50% success rate on the first attempt.  we are doing 2 attempts

    Pubs where somebody is on site will be fine, but any where the staff cant get in will likely need all lines replacing after this, either from being left with beer, water of line clean fluid in them... they will all destroy the lines.  They need to do a full clean, and blow the lines out completely, then another full clean on reopening.

    News from Shepton Mallet.. just been past the cider mill they are still working with loads ready to ship!
    breweries are still going too, but they wont be kegging anything for a while.   Cider might be okay with its extended shelf life, but beer doesn't last as long


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  • rze99rze99 Frets: 2260
    Anytime anyone asked me to join them in a Weatherspoon pub I found an urgent other appointment. 
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  • It speaks volumes that a post about the gigging scene descended into a booze discussion in one reply :) 
    'Vot eva happened to the Transylvanian Tvist?'
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  • the_jaffathe_jaffa Frets: 1777
    My local jam night set up a facebook group for virtual jams, just to tide a few people over, but it now has more than 2000 members. I reckon this should have a positive impact on things once the restrictions are lifted as more people are becoming aware of what is around and hopefully this will translate into more people coming to events etc.
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    I expect things will be slow to pick up. The lockdown will be loosened but not lifted. China is having to lock things down again to keep it under control. I'm looking forward to being able to get together to rehearse and record but I don't expect any gigs for a while
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    It speaks volumes that a post about the gigging scene descended into a booze discussion in one reply  
    My fault. It was an attempt to understand the customer’s (landlord’s) side of things. Will they be so besieged with drinkers that they don’t need a band to bring them in? Will they be competing with each other because for fewer customers because people have lost the habit of going to the pub? Will they have any money to pay for a band?

    My guess is that, first off, everyone will be pleased to get out of their houses and socialise. So people will have more cash than usual because they haven’t been spending. Some will have less because they haven’t been earning. So there will be an initial rush, where pubs don’t need bands, then a trough where the cash runs thin and the attraction of bottled beer rubs off. That’s when pubs will need bands to help drag customers in. It depends heavily on how the lockdown is lifted.

    The question was:
    Caffeine_Vampire said:
    ... what do folk reckon are the best ways to breathe new life into it when the restraining order is lifted? Any new ideas to keep the beer money flowing?
    Presumably music pubs will be calling the bands they’ve already got booked, and filling gaps with bands they’ve used before. They won’t be putting on extras gigs because the money won’t be there initially. 

    Something I’ve wondered about is providing a full bill, with a support band, and entertainment in the interval. It starts earlier Than the usual 9:00pm, and runs continuously until closing. The supporting acts don’t earn much, but they don’t have to play for long, and they don’t have to bring equipment. To your average music pub that gives more value for their money. It might be enticing for pubs that don’t go for heavy rock bands.

    Assuming that the lockdown is lifted before mid summer then there is also scope for pubs with gardens having weekend events where someone else does the organising.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • sw67sw67 Frets: 228
    We play  few select venues that give us gigs every year so rather than book rehearsal time to get back up to speed might do a couple of free gigs to help them out. Depends on how long this lasts as i think people will avoid crowds for a while.
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    sw67 said:
    We play  few select venues that give us gigs every year so rather than book rehearsal time to get back up to speed might do a couple of free gigs to help them out. Depends on how long this lasts as i think people will avoid crowds for a while.
    Yeah exactly, I think people will be cautious about hanging out in crowds until there is a proper vaccine or treatment available, which means possibly towards the end of 2021
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  • horsehorse Frets: 1561
    roberty said:
    sw67 said:
    We play  few select venues that give us gigs every year so rather than book rehearsal time to get back up to speed might do a couple of free gigs to help them out. Depends on how long this lasts as i think people will avoid crowds for a while.
    Yeah exactly, I think people will be cautious about hanging out in crowds until there is a proper vaccine or treatment available, which means possibly towards the end of 2021
     I'd agree. Once we are past 10k deaths, people have been shocked by what's happened with Boris, and there's wider understanding of how random and nasty the symptoms can be, even when restrictions are lifted a little many people may well avoid all but essential interactions, and avoid unnecessary close contact with others.

    Festivals may be "allowed" in the summer, but will be difficult to be profitable. Pubs may be nervous about spending more on band bookings than they generate in sales, and music venues will be more cautious than ever of gigs which may not break even - and that's if they actually survive the current shutdown.

    I was hoping for my best earning year so far from gigs, but can't see much earning potential now, and tbh am more concerned about household income and family health now.
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  • ftumchftumch Frets: 679
    the_jaffa said:
    My local jam night set up a facebook group for virtual jams, just to tide a few people over, but it now has more than 2000 members. I reckon this should have a positive impact on things once the restrictions are lifted as more people are becoming aware of what is around and hopefully this will translate into more people coming to events etc.
    My Jam is doing the same thing, what's yours called and how do I find it??
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  • VoxmanVoxman Frets: 4718
    edited April 2020
    Sadly I think the live gigging scene is likely to be dead for at least 6 months. There is no cure to Covid19, and the UK incidents and deaths are still rocketing like crazy. Even assuming a peak is reached by the end of April, the Government has a huge problem re how best to take its foot off the lockdown.  It's going to be a very, very gradual staged process because as we all know, too fast and it will start rising all over again. Bands playing live music are likely to be pretty near the bottom of the agenda - before that you're looking at a staged approach to getting people back to work, travel within the UK, opening shops, and then hopefully restaurants, and possibly pubs etc.  
    I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    Sadly the Artrix theater in Bromsgrove has ceased trading ... the C19 lockdown just killed the business . So that's the first after recovery gig cancelled for my KB tribute .... I'm hoping the other theaters can ride the storm otherwise we are thousands down each this year 

    The pub gig's I'm not so worried about. I'm very lucky to live in an area where pubs use bands to draw punters and are prepared to pay decent money. Most of these are Fullers pubs and Fullers have cancelled the rents during lockdown to help landlords ride it out. Judging by Facebook people are desperate to get back into live music pubs in my area, it's kind of a big thing locally 

    Festival wise we've already lost the isle of Wight festival which we were booked to play ... we are also booked at Victorious festival which is end of August so that may still go ahead. 

    The last 4 weeks have been the longest I have gone without gigging for 20 years 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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  • andy5805andy5805 Frets: 10
    It's going to be a greyer place in general because the impact of covid 19 is the same on multiple sectors of society. This means colourful small independent shops mightn't be there but Amazon will be, it also means massive established bands will be there....but the smaller guys mightn't be. So it might not be about all of us - it'll be about the crop of new musicians that comes after this horrible period, along with some of us who have either managed to adapt or survive. 
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  • horsehorse Frets: 1561
    I'm expecting the tribute and cover guys I play with to be up for playing for pretty much nowt, just to be out gigging (semi-pro, all have day jobs).

    I'd rather be playing originals in other genres if there's no money in the gigs tbh.
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  • Danny1969Danny1969 Frets: 10356
    So Victorious festival in August now cancelled .... that's all the big festivals we were booked for gone now. During lockdown I've started writing a lot again and enjoying that so that's kept me busy. 
    www.2020studios.co.uk 
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