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Gigs cancelled due to virus...


uk_lefty

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I lost over £1k of work on Friday, and another £1k went in a single message today too. It's not looking good, most of my gigs are to sizeable crowds and music is my full time occupation. To say I've had it is potentially an understatement.

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IoM TT race cancelled too, unsurprisingly.

I've had 1 gig cancelled so far; and all 3 groups have either cancelled rehearsals, or considering it (so the gigs will go too, obvs). The government advice is sufficiently vague to make it borderline, but with the groups being big bands - typically 15-20 people - rather than simply about 4-5 of us, its unclear if its a "social gathering" of sufficient size, or whether we can take precautions eg stay about 2m apart, own music stands, don't share mugs in the break etc

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4 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

All my gigs are currently going ahead as planned, but one is at The Boat Race. I'm wondering if a ban on public events is brought in, would it apply, as it's not actually in a venue?

 

3 hours ago, casapete said:

We have a gig in the isle of Man early June for the TT races so may be a similar situation. 

 

Nah, they'd flood their engines.

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I’ve just been told our appearance at a blues rock festival next weekend has been cancelled, which I was half expecting to be honest.

I was hoping my side project of solo acoustic guitar gigs might slip under the radar (no one could ever consider them a mass gathering...) but if people are being advised not to go to pubs then that’s scuppered as well. 
I’ll remain prepared to do them if required but I’m waiting for the cancellation calls to start coming in. 
Strange times indeed. For the first time in  along time I feel fortunate to have my desk job to fall back on.
Edited by bassbiscuits
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On 15/03/2020 at 12:39, Dubs said:

It's a strange situation where we find the public and private organisations taking the lead on the decisions to cancel events and mass gatherings ahead of any government advice. It's almost like they're just watching the swinging gate after the horse has bolted. 

The problem is that the government has stopped short of actually banning people going to pubs, theatres etc - they have just told people they shouldn’t do it.

That leaves the venue/promoter to take responsibility for cancelling any events and leaves them vulnerable to paying out any refunds etc, rather the venue being able to say they are following the government’s directions.

Thats my understanding of it. 

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3 hours ago, goblin said:

I lost over £1k of work on Friday, and another £1k went in a single message today too. It's not looking good, most of my gigs are to sizeable crowds and music is my full time occupation. To say I've had it is potentially an understatement.

Mate that’s really harsh. Sorry to hear that. 

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9 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said:

The problem is that the government has stopped short of actually banning people going to pubs, theatres etc - they have just told people they shouldn’t do it.

That leaves the venue/promoter to take responsibility for cancelling any events and leaves them vulnerable to paying out any refunds etc, rather the venue being able to say they are following the government’s directions.

Thats my understanding of it. 

That seems to be exactly what it is, a cowardly and callous approach from the government. Because they haven't mandated that venues/restaurants, etc close, presumably the operators will not be able to claim anything; if they close, it'll be their choice, no-one told them to do it. Scandalous in my opinion. 

I'm gutted that I probably won't get to play with the band again for months, and feel sorry for everyone affected. Everyone in the arts, everyone who was looking forward to their wedding, all the small business owners, people who are being ordered to take lengthy unpaid absence, etc, etc. 😔

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2 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

That seems to be exactly what it is, a cowardly and callous approach from the government. Because they haven't mandated that venues/restaurants, etc close, presumably the operators will not be able to claim anything; if they close, it'll be their choice, no-one told them to do it. Scandalous in my opinion. 

I'm gutted that I probably won't get to play with the band again for months, and feel sorry for everyone affected. Everyone in the arts, everyone who was looking forward to their wedding, all the small business owners, people who are being ordered to take lengthy unpaid absence, etc, etc. 😔

Exactly this ^^^^

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49 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

That seems to be exactly what it is, a cowardly and callous approach from the government. Because they haven't mandated that venues/restaurants, etc close, presumably the operators will not be able to claim anything; if they close, it'll be their choice, no-one told them to do it. Scandalous in my opinion. 

We've been discussing this this evening. With all our gigs being weddings then whoever hits the button and cancels, be it client, venue or supplier, will be the one looking at losing the most. We're looking at every booking and wondering who's going to blink first?

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Just back from possibly the last rehearsal for a long time.....out of normally about 20, there was 9 attending and big gaps in instrument lineup. Most disappointingly, 3x of the over 70s turned up anyway and lied about their age when asked! 

But that's the crux of the issue - the government's advised them to self-isolate but don't actually have the power (yet) to enforce it. I suspect they've deliberately stopped short of obliging eg clubs and pubs to close (TODAY) because of the potential to claim compensation. TOMORROW might be a different matter, now that they've effectively given themselves the power to pass legislation without a vote.....expect some pretty wide-sweeping emergency powers to be implemented in the next few days.....!! 

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Just looking on the BBC News site now, and most West End Theatres are all shutting down with immediate effect, along with other organisations like ATG who operate a lot of provincial theatres too. That's my band out of work until whenever then. As some people have already commented, such a bad way of handling things by the government, which will cause more hardship than it potentially needed to, and still no definite plans to support those self employed people from financial ruin.

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My Niece, who is a professional musician/songwriter, has set up a Gofund me page for musicians who will perform gigs live on the web. 

https://www.facebook.com/yumhoneyblood

There's also this lot who will stream gigs live on Youtube for you.

https://www.rootsmusic.ca/2020/03/15/please-do-this-right-now-it-will-take-5-seconds-and-help-us-stream-concerts/?fbclid=IwAR0lIgpPCwzpaBMEAKHAG4eBYvnP88rAD2OYmQ9b2mcllfJ49H37czeHW6E

 

People want to see live music and musicians want to perform. Where there's a will there's a way.

Edited by gjones
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16 minutes ago, casapete said:

Just looking on the BBC News site now, and most West End Theatres are all shutting down with immediate effect, along with other organisations like ATG who operate a lot of provincial theatres too. That's my band out of work until whenever then. As some people have already commented, such a bad way of handling things by the government, which will cause more hardship than it potentially needed to, and still no definite plans to support those self employed people from financial ruin.

That's me also and definitely f***ed then :(

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It's starting to feel like perhaps we as musicians have a social responsibility to cancel gigs ourselves. Should we be encouraging gatherings of people?  I suspect pretty soon everything will be off indefinitely (the rest of the year, at least?) anyway.

Edited by arthurhenry
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Waking up to a string of cancelled and postponed gigs. Music is a second income for me and I'm expecting to take a big hit over the next few months, nothing compared to you full-time pros though - really feeling for you guys at the moment. The hospitality and arts industries are up sh*t creak.

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First of (we expect) many phone calls received from our theatre venues last night cancelling this Friday's gig....

Disgusting the way this Govt is treating the entertainment/hospitality community. Venues will go under and people will hit the breadline all because they are having to 'voluntarily' close/stop working...

So angry with Cummings/Cooper and their cronies right now.... !!!

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First cancellation yesterday (big bikers rally in Cheshire), but expecting most of the gigs over the coming couple of months to go the same way.

My sentiment is as per a number of other above, this is a non-critical revenue stream for me so my sympathies really do lie with those in the entertainment and hospitality sectors at this time.

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All my main band’s theatre gigs now cancelled indefinitely. My regular weekly acoustic duo pub gig has also just gone the same way, so that’s 100% of my regular income completely gone. Testing times ahead I feel. 😥

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