Cage The Elephant's Matt Shultz diving into the crowd at their gig in London in 2016.
Festivals,  Gigs,  Tickets

Give It Away

Could we be facing the Covid endgame? The last week or so has seen a sudden pivot. One minute we were draped across the sofa, bemoaning our first gig-free anniversaries, a full year into the lockdown life, and the next we are figuring out if we are free for the Reading/Leeds Festival in August.

Yes, the UK is getting ready to rock, with the Reading/Leeds Festival opening its arms to the pandemic-stricken world, following the UK Government’s optimistic and remarkably specific new timeline for a possible return to ‘normal’ life. A Government announcement stuck a pin in the calendar on 21 June (with or without eyes open, not sure) and declared this the ‘earliest’ date by which normality would resume. Even with the qualifier that this concise timeline relies on the carefully laid plans of mice and men (and women) not going awry, it might sound like the Brit PM has a monumental case of PMA* as though he might have started listening to Bad Brains (if only).

Whilst a mere four-month countdown to the potential return of large scale music events makes us gig-goers giddy with excitement, would we benefit from being a tad cautious? Wasn’t it just a matter of weeks ago that the very same Government expected to relax its lockdown for five days over the Christmas period, only to dramatically retract it at the last moment, when they woke up sometime in late December and realised the whole idea was completely untenable? Try as I might, it’s hard not to hear George Michael crooning ‘once bitten, twice shy’ in one’s ear at the prospect of this new timeline given the U-turn last Christmas, but lots of people are clearly more Wham!-resistant and tickets are apparently selling well.

Picking up the positive vibe, wouldn’t it be wonderful if it really is a case of festival gates opening by June? So then, what safeguards would encourage you to wade into the mud this summer? A vaccine certificate? Mandatory rapid results tests on entry to the festival site? The latter might require a ‘no re-entry’ rule, which could be a game-changer for events that allow people to come and go. UK seaside punk festival Rebellion** is one such case, allowing continuous re-entry as there’s no onsite accommodation and people pop out for fish and chips on the beach every five minutes.

With festivals attracting young people from around the world, the oldest-to-youngest global vaccination roll out may fail to tally with the festival calendar. Even if jabbed or brandishing a recent negative test result, some risks may remain. In the new post-Covid world, might festival-goers be asked to sign a waiver to accept any virus-related health risk?

The notion of making potentially detrimental formal agreements on arrival at a gig brought to my mind the dreaded music photographer’s contract. These are not related to physical wellbeing, but can interfere with one’s emotional health and grasp on reality. Essentially, this is where a band’s manager will ask photographers to sign a declaration before shooting a show. The contract tends to stipulate criteria beyond the usual restrictions such as how long you can shoot for (usually three songs) and where from (hopefully near the stage). For instance, it might prevent the photos from being used beyond say, one magazine review (a kind of ‘burn after reading’ agreement). Or it might state that all photos must be handed over to the band’s management who will run away and use them as they wish, despite having neither commissioned nor paid for them (rather more of a ‘what’s the most we can get away with?’ approach).

Live music fans won’t be required to give away any such creative copyright, but might they be asked to relinquish something more precarious in accepting a level of health risk? What would you do? It may prove to be a crossroads moment in our journey out of the pandemic for many dedicated music fans. Not quite an exchange on the scale of legendary blues musician Robert Johnson, signing his soul away to the devil at a crossroads at midnight, as legend tells it. (He did apparently die howling and on his knees, but this was thought to be the result of poisoning by a love rival.) But still.

We might be desperate to fight for our right to party like The Beastie Boys, but those rights might want to include enough considered protections to make sure we’re fit and healthy to rock on for the rest of the year (and our lives)…

*Positive Mental Attitude.

**Rebellion has sensibly stated that it will wait until the government decision on safeguards before announcing whether and in what form it can go ahead. It’s a wonderful festival, so fingers crossed!

Photo: Cage The Elephant singer Matt Shultz taking the ultimate leap of faith during a show in London, in 2016. My one year anniversary of gig-lessness has just passed, with this being the last band I saw live, back in late February 2020, in Germany. © Imelda Michalczyk

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