UK Grassroots Music Venues Confirm Thousands Of Shows As Lockdown Eases

This is what grassroots music venues are all about. The Defiled live on stage at The Exchange in Bristol, May 13, 2013.
Adam Gasson/Metal Hammer Magazine/Future via Getty Images – This is what grassroots music venues are all about. The Defiled live on stage at The Exchange in Bristol, May 13, 2013.
The UK’s grassroots sector is currently booking shows at its own expense in other to facilitate the return of live.

The UK’s Music Venue Trust (MVT) conducted a survey amongst the more than 900 members of the Music Venues Alliance (MVA), who confirmed 2,500 shows from May 17, when the government’s next phase of easing lockdown begins.

See: UK Government’s Roadmap Out Of Lockdown
May 17 marks phase three of the UK’s roadmap out of lockdown. It will allow will allow “performances and sporting events in indoor venues with a capacity of 1,000 people or half-full (whichever is a lower number), and in outdoor venues with a capacity of 4,000 people or half-full (whichever is a lower number),” as stated on the UK government’s website.
The audience visiting these events will be required to keep a distance, hence the lowered capacities. The removing of distancing mandates is slated for phase four, which is scheduled to begin June 21.
The MVT survey shows that MVA members expect 28,500 shows to take place across the country’s grassroots venues between May and September.
More than 2,534 distanced shows are already on sale in 266 venues from May 17 to June 21, with more than 4,000 shows across more than 400 venues predicted to take place during that month.
MVT strategic director Beverley Whitrick reemphasized what promoters and venue operators have been emphasizing for over a year now: that distanced shows, particularly in grassroots venues, aren’t economically viable, on the contrary: “The grassroots sector is stepping up and putting its own time and money into answering the demand for live music in our communities,” she explained.   
Still, it was “incredible to see the enthusiasm for getting live music back into our towns and cities being shown by venues, artists and crew,” said Whitrick.
By the end of September, and provided the UK government carries through with its June 21 reopening plans, the MVT survey indicates that over 17,000 full capacity shows are already confirmed to take place.
In total, MVA members expect 30,000 shows likely to take place in front of 6,803,481 audience members. 
5,000 people, no masks, no distance at an event that was part of the UK government
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images – 5,000 people, no masks, no distance at an event that was part of the UK government
The Music Venue Trust has voiced its concern that the ERP didn’t feature the kind of events that would give grassroots music venues the data and evidence to return to full capacity by June 21.

“With support artists factored in, it is estimated that there will be 91,500 individual live performances during the period, offering over 300,000 work opportunities for musicians as they finally get the chance to return to paid employment,” the survey results read.

According to MVT numbers, the UK grassroots music venue sector turned over £360 million in 2019/20, prior to the pandemic, delivering over 200,000 events and more than half a million performances to 33 million ticket holders. 
The sector provides full time employment for 10,000 people with approximately 150,000 musicians, crew, sound engineers, lighting engineers, security personnel, bar staff and other casual employees working in grassroots live music as part of portfolio careers. 
Mark Davyd, CEO of Music Venue Trust, commented, “As we emerge from the darkness of the last year and move towards our plan to Revive Live it is incredibly exciting and heartening to see the positivity with which UK grassroots music venues are approaching re-opening their doors. 
“The fact that musicians can get back to work, music fans can start to enjoy a live music experience again and all the associated staff in the music venue eco-system can go back to earning a living again is amazing news. 
“There are still challenges to overcome, and of course the whole of this program relies on the government sticking to its roadmap to allow us to reopen every venue safely. Audience safety continues to be grassroots music venues’ main priority, but this is hopefully the start of our much-anticipated road back to normality.”
There are a many test events currently running in the UK under the government’s Events Research Program (ERP). Festival Republic just promoted a 5,000-capacity festival in Liverpool’s Sefton Park, May 2, where audience members got tested beforehand.