3rd August 2020 (IQ Magazine) The #LetTheMusicPlay campaign returns tomorrow, sending a message to government that Britain's live music industry is still in crisis. A month after round one helped spur the British government into action, the UK music industry will tomorrow (4 August) again unite for #LetTheMusicPlay, spotlighting the plight of live music during the Covid-19 shutdown. The first #LetTheMusicPlay (LTMP) campaign, which took place on Thursday 2 July, saw thousands of social media profiles – as well as several major music venues – transformed with LTMP branding, with more than 1,500 artists, including the likes of Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and the Rolling Stones, also lending their support. Of the campaign’s three main demands – a financial support package, a VAT exemption/reduction on ticket sales, and a timeline for reopening venues without social distancing – only the third remains unfulfilled, with the UK government having announced its £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, and then slashed VAT to 5%, in the following weeks. 

2nd August 2020 (Live for Live Music) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that indoor concerts will not return to England as early as anticipated. Indoor events, including movies and museum openings, were scheduled to return beginning on August 1st. This delay comes barely two weeks after Johnson announced that socially distanced, indoor events could resume on August 1st. That decision has now apparently been overturned by the U.K.’s Chief Medical Officer, Chris Witty, who warned that England has “reached the limits of opening up society.” In a press conference on Downing Street on Friday, Johnson stated that the return of indoor events will be pushed back at least two weeks. This comes in addition to the extension of face mask requirements past the previously-announced August 8th.
Reporting by Michael Broerman

Photo by Dawn Lio from Pexels

30th July 2020. (IQ Magazine). The PSA Tour Production Group (PSA TPG) brings together some of the industry's best-known event production professionals to launch Covid-19 working guidance. Professionals from across the UK concert touring sector have joined forces to launch the PSA Tour Production Group (PSA TPG), a new association that aims to provide a unified industry response to the impact of Covid-19 on live music events. The group is a new arm of the Production Services Association (PSA), the trade body for the live event production industry, and includes tour managers, production managers, safety professionals, venue and festival managers, travel and logistics specialists, promoters and suppliers.

29th July 2020 (DJ Mag) An outdoor music event will take place at Alexandra Palace in August. Scheduled to take place on bank holiday weekend on the 30th August, the new event, UNLOCKED, will provide a socially-distanced festival experience for music fans. The daytime event will run from 2PM until 8PM, with an  AV set from DJ Yoda, as well as a performance from Norman Jay MBE, and more to be announced. Socially-distanced queues and hygiene rules will be implemented, with the venue allowing a maximum capacity of 60%. "The team behind the successful 2018 Kaleidoscope Festival are working with the local authority, emergency and transport services and relevant health and statutory bodies to plan the event and ensure it provides a safe and enjoyable environment for visitors.

28th July 2020 (We Rave You). Trance and progressive festival Awake Croatia 2020 might be one of the very few live music events taking place this summer. The organisers have announced that the festival will be celebrated as planned and will take place on 20-23 August at the iconic Zrce Beach in the beautiful Croatian island of Pag. If this news weren’t enough, they have gone on announcing two major artists such as the legends Paul Van Dyk and Aly & Fila, who will join an already amazing and stacked line up.
Reporting by Pol Torà 

27th July 2020 (Resident Advisor). Venues, including nightclubs with "a significant live music programme," are eligible for grants of up to £80,000. £2.25 million in emergency grants have been made available to English music venues. As part of the UK government's £1.57 billion cultural rescue package, venues can receive between £1,000 and £80,000 until September 2020. (Music venues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be eligible for their own pandemic initiatives.) The scheme includes nightclubs "that regularly host DJ and MC based events but also have a significant live music programme focusing on grassroots talent and original material." The UK nightlife community had been calling for more clarity on which venues were eligible for the government's rescue package, leading to the launch of the #LetUsDance campaign last week. 

Photo by daniel dinu from Pexels

23rd July 2020 (MusicRadar) “Without the dance there’s only the drab and the dark,” says Irvine Welsh. The UK dance music and events sector has come together today to issue an urgent plea for help from the UK government in light of the Covid-19 crisis. The #LetUsDance campaign says that dance music and events must be protected and recognised as an important part of the UK’s artistic and cultural landscape. The campaign is being backed by artists, festivals, nightclubs and industry figures, all of whom say that the dance music sector should receive the same level of support as the wider live music sector.
Reporting by Ben Rogerson 

22nd July 2020 (EDM Tunes) Music festivals–where would we be without them? Oh wait, we’re here…without them now. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic making the environment utterly useless for our beloved events, here is a look as to what its future might be like. Already, we see high ticket prices and high drink prices inside the venue. What happens to live events with a pandemic? Decreased capacity, stringent sanitation policies upon entry, remarkably even higher ticket and drink prices. Solution? Artists could play for less money to offset the costs, but that’s not happening.  
Reporting by Nina Chiang 

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20th July 2020. For the first time since lockdown began, Kings Place London will welcome audiences back to the venue to experience a unique day of live performance. The Kings Place Culture Clinics begin on Saturday 1 August and will offer a bespoke service of free live performances for those who have missed the tingle of live music and who are anxious about returning to a venue. Audiences are invited to step over the threshold of Kings Place again, share their personal lockdown story or mood with one of the guest artists who will prescribe a piece of music.

Reporting by BWW News Desk  

18th July 2020 (NME) "We will restart indoor performances to a live audience subject to the success of pilots" Prime Minister Boris Johnson has signalled the return of some “socially distanced” live music events this August in a new press conference. Under the proposed plans, from August 1, socially distanced audiences are able to return for indoor performances in theatres, music halls and other venues. From October, Johnson said “audiences in stadia”, conferences and other events would also be able to restart, subject to successful pilots around the UK. The PM warned, however, “the timetable” was “conditional,” adding “we will not proceed if doing so risks a second peak.”
Reporting By Elizabeth Aubrey 

Photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels

15th July 2020 (CMU) Although some live music is returning across Europe as COVID-19 measures are relaxed in many countries, there remains much uncertainty as to what gigs and festivals – and what kinds of gigs and festivals – will be able to take place in the months ahead. One of the bigger European festivals that had hoped it could proceed with an albeit postponed 2020 edition – Exit in Serbia – has now confirmed its cancellation.

Organisers of the East London dance music centric We Are FSTVL have said they are calling off their plans to stage a rescheduled edition of the event in September because current government guidance is “contradictory and unhelpful”. 

Reporting by Chris Cooke 

6th July 2020 (IQ Magazine). Music fans may get their chance to party in the Mediterranean sunshine this summer, as festivals are planned for the island of Malta in the coming weeks. The southern European island state of Malta is preparing to welcome festivalgoers over the next few months, as it gets set to become one of the only European countries to host large-scale music events this summer. With one of the lowest rates of Covid-19 in Europe, Malta is lifting lockdown measures – including all international travel restrictions – on 15 July. It is one of 60 countries included in a list of “travel corridors” with the UK, meaning those travelling between the two countries will not need to self-isolate on arrival. Escape 2 the Island, organised by UK-based promoter Bass Jam, will see artists including Aitch, AJ Tracey, Fredo and Charlie Sloth perform at the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre (MFCC), an indoor and outdoor events venue in the town of Attard, from 28 to 30 August.

14th July 2020 (Evening Standard) Dreaming about the summer that might have been? Us too. The pandemic has made our hopes of hopping from festival to festival little more than a fantasy. But, all being well, things may return to something approaching normal next year. Across the UK, a number of major music festivals have committed themselves to a triumphant return in 2021, booking artists and releasing their planned line-ups. Here, we've rounded up the heavy-hitting festivals to have locked down dates for next summer. If you had tickets for a festival this year, then they will remain valid for 2021, too. If you don't have a ticket, then new ones are on sale now. 

Reporting by Jochan Embley 

9th July 2020. Another #LetTheMusicPlay objective fulfilled, as British chancellor Rishi Sunak announces a 15% reduction in value-added tax on live events until the end of the year. The British government has announced that value-added tax (VAT) levied on concert and event tickets will be reduced to 5% from next week. A cut in VAT was one of three main demands of last week’s #LetTheMusicPlay campaign, along with a financial support package and a timeline with reopening music venues without social distancing. Following the announcement of on Sunday of a £1.57 billion aid package for the cultural sector, only the call for a confirmed date for reopening remains unfulfilled. The VAT cut was announced 8th July by culture minister Oliver Dowden, following a ‘mini-budget’ that afternoon by chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak. According to Dowden, the reduction in VAT from 20% to 5% will apply to concerts, theatre shows, exhibitions, circuses and other “attractions”. 

Reporting by IQ Magazine 

9th July 2020 (Live for live music) Live Nation‘s U.K. arm and MelodyVR will team up to produce a series of concerts with unprecedented virtual access to air from the O2 Academy Brixton in London, England. Confirmed by the two organizations on Wednesday, the Live From O2 Academy Brixton virtual reality series will feature new performances where fans tuning in from around the world will be able to select the various vantage points from which they watch from multiple spots inside the London venue, which includes being on stage with the artists during the set. Each streamed performance will be available to watch with 360° perspective and virtual reality on the MelodyVR app for anyone with a smartphone or an Oculus VR device in the U.K., United States, Canada, and other European countries. 

Reporting by Tom Shackleford  

9th July 2020 (edm.com) The Gisburne Park Pop-Up reimagines music festivals for the COVID-19 era. As most of the world's live music events continue to be cancelled due to COVID-19, the UK is joining the likes of Amsterdam by hosting its first socially distanced music festival called the Gisburne Park Pop-Up. The event will last eight weeks, from July 11th to August 30th, 2020, and will be hosted on the breathtaking Gisburne Park Estate in Lancashire. The 10-acre venue plans to welcome 24,000 guests over the duration of the event, all of who will be treated to a mix of music, entertainment, food, drink, and boutique glamping while observing the latest social distancing guidelines. Joining the groundbreaking event will be some of the UK's biggest names in dance music, including Jonas Blue, The Shapeshifters, and Sam Divine. They will be part of the festival's weekly "Party in the Park" experience, which also includes immersive movie nights and family-focused events. 

Reporting by Katie Stone 

8th July 2020. Hundreds of venues across the UK were lit up in red on Monday 6th July in response to the 'Light It In Red' campaign. The campaign is a mass appeal and a call for help to politicians to save the events industry. Companies from all across the events industry, as well as event locations, (event centres, convention centres, conference hotels, theatres, concert halls, playhouses and nightclubs) throughout the UK were invited to join together on the night of the 6th of July 2020. The participating venues lit their buildings in red in order to draw attention to the dramatic situation in the event industry to make a statement that can't be ignored. The campaign was launched by Backstage and Clearsound Productions. 

3rd July 2020 (Exhibition World). The UK events industry may need to wait until the Government’s Covid-19 alert level is dropped to Level 2 before live events can run, EW's UK sister title Conference News can reveal. In a letter seen by that magazine, Conservative Member of Parliament for Daventry and minister of state for transport, Chris Heaton-Harris, responded to a constituent, saying that while the Government is keen to get the sector reopen “as quickly as possible”, the process would depend on the transmission rate of the virus, the ‘R’ value, falling further. It is the first time a UK government minister has suggested when events might be able to return. The events industry has been reporting to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), but it has been, so far, unable to indicate when a restart date for the sector will be announced. 

Reporting by Martin Fullard 

30th June 2020 CHICAGO (PRNewswire) React Presents, LLC, a subsidiary of LiveXLive Media, Inc, a global platform for live stream and on-demand audio, video and podcast content in music, comedy, and pop culture, announced today that the Midwest’s largest all-electronic music festival, Spring Awakening Music Festival (“SAMF”), is going digital with a new virtual experience on July 4th and 5th, 2020 streaming on LiveXLive, in partnership with Corona Electric Beach benefiting MusiCares. React Presents also announced the festival’s lineup including Claude VonStroke, Bear Grillz, Krewella and Shiba San confirmed for the two-day event. 

5th May 2020. After the organisers of the rock festival announced the cancellation of their 2020 event they have successfully arranged a crowdfunding exercise and raised £90k to keep the festival going next year. ArcTanGent is now scheduled for 19th – 21st August 2021 and tickets will automatically be rolled over. The organisers have only confirmed Opeth in their line up for 2021, this year’s event was also to have included Amenra, TesserAct, Ihsahn. This Will Destroy You, Perturbator, Rolo Tomassi and Earthstone.  

21st April 2020. The organisers announced a while back the cancellation of their 2020 event, tickets will roll over to next year's event now scheduled for 1st – 5th July 2021, although they offered a refund at the time of the announcement you only had 4 days to apply for it. The organisers never did confirm the lineup for 2020 and there is no news about 2021. Last year's event did feature the likes of Lewis Capaldi, Dermot Kennedy and Maggie Rogers 

18th March 2020. The organisers of the Rhythm and Blues, Roots and Country music festival announced a few months ago that the festival will proceed this year in September after the original May dates were cancelled, all tickets will be automatically rolled over to the new dates. The confirmed headline acts include: Richard Hawley, Asleep at the Wheel, North Mississippi Allstarts, Luther Dickinson, Chuck Prophet, The Sheepdogs, Tommy Mclain and Nicole Atkins  

21st March 2020. The organisers of the long standing Celtic themed festival announced several months ago that they still planned to hold their festival this year. The dates are confirmed as 10th – 13th September 2020. Tickets are still valid for the new dates or customers can transfer to 2021, there was no mention of refunds. The headliners for September have been confirmed as: Afro Celt Sound System, Kel Assouf, Shooglenifty, Pump DJs, The Poozies, Moishe’s Bagel, Cut Capers, The Inexplicables and Mungo’s HiFi.

30th April 2020. The organisers of one of Europe’s largest music festivals announced cancellation of their 2020 event, all tickets sold will automatically be valid for next year’s event although no dates have been been confirmed yet. Ticket holders can also opt for a refund too. The organisers have yet to confirm the lineup for 2021, this year’s event was to headline Stormzy, The Strokes, Major Lazer, Kings of Leon, Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris, A$AP Rocky, Khalid, Lewis Capaldi, Foals, Mark Ronson, FKA Twigs, Foals, Foster the People and Diplo.     

12th May 2020. The organisers announced cancellation of their 2020 event, all ticket holders have the choice of either rolling over to next year’s event now scheduled for the August Bank Holiday Weekend 2021, or opting for a refund. The organisers have yet to confirm the lineup for 2021, this year’s event was to headline Stormzy, Liam Gallagher, Race Against the Machine, Courteeners, Gerry Cinnamon and Migos 

11th June 2020. The organisers of the popular LGBT annual event have announced that the physical festival will be replaced by an online virtual event. The Price Cymru Big Week will now run online only between 24th – 30th August 2020. No mention yet regarding tickets or the lineup that previously included Charlotte Church and writer Rod Thomas aka Bright Light and top flight tribute acts including Lady Gaga, Cher and Whitney Houston. 

14th May 2020. The organisers announced cancellation of their 2020 event, all tickets will be automatically rolled over next year’s event now scheduled for 15th – 18th July 2021. For ticket holders who are unable to make next year’s event refunds are also available. The organisers have yet to confirm the lineup for 2021, this year’s event was to headline Mura Masa, The Wailers, Craig Charles, Wilkinson, David Rodigan and Nightmares on Wax.   

4th May 2020. The organisers announced cancellation of their 2020 event, all tickets will be automatically rolled over next year’s event now scheduled for 22nd – 25th July 2021. The organisers have confirmed that most of their line up for 2020 will appear in 2021 including Andy C, Sister Sledge, Gentleman's Dub Club, Submotion Orchestra, Calyx & Teebee, Ibibio Sound Machine, Break. Dirty Dike w/ DJ Sammy B-Side, Mungo’s Hi Fi Ft. Gardna, Stanton Warriors, Kingdom (Rodney P, TY, Black Twang), Tankus The Henge and the Dutty Moonshine Big Band.   

26th May 2020. The organisers announced cancellation of their 2020 event, as an independent and non-commercially focused event the organisers have appealed to ticket holder to roll over to 2021 and to donate £30 each to keep the festival viable. They have confirmed dates for next year’s event as 26th – 29th August 2021. Despite the event being sold out the lineup for 2020 was never announced and there has been no further news on any confirmed artists for 2021 either.  

9th April 2020. The organisers were one of the first to announce cancellation of their 2020 event, after a successful crowdfunding exercise they have confirmed dates for next year’s event as 27th – 30th August 2021. They are now selling tickets for 2021 and the lineup will include: Bill Bailey, Steeleye Stan, Kate Rusby, Show Of Hands, This is the Kit, Gruff Rhys, Grace Petrie and Talisk.