Thousands gather at UK’s Covid-safe Latitude Festival, as Aussie music industry suffers
Thousands have gathered for one of the world’s biggest events since the pandemic, showing once again just how far Australia is behind.
Images featuring thousands of revellers enjoying the sun at the UK’s Latitude Festival might come as a bit of a shock for Aussies stuck inside this weekend.
The massive event held at Henham Park in Suffolk is one of the first major experiments for the UK government, which has moved to reopen society after a strong vaccination push.
40,000 people are expected to descend on the festival site for the four-day event running this weekend, with crowd favourites Wolf Alice, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Chemical Brothers booked as headliners.
On night one, music fans enjoyed participating in antiquated rituals, such as standing in front of a stage, sitting on shoulders in the mosh and conversing without masks. Tickets to the event came with an asterisk — with all festivalgoers required to show proof they had received two jabs or a negative Covid test before being let through the gate.
Managing director of the Festival Republic group Melvin Benn said he was relaxed and optimistic for the event. Despite the obvious hangups, the location has been dubbed “the safest place in England”.
“I am really very happy and very relaxed. I hope I look relaxed, I feel very relaxed,” Mr Benn told Sky News.
“We had a great night last night. It was a huge party. None of the main stage acts were playing but there is a lot going on in the woods, on the lake and in the theatre area.”
“Last night was an amazing feeling, everyone back together again,” festivalgoer Kris Spandler told the Mail.
“The feeling of the energy of everybody just enjoying each other’s company, watching a live act and listening, reacting as a crowd rather than just watching something at home for one-and-a-half years.”
The jubilant scenes sit in stark contrast to Australia, which has seen its live music industry take a serious tumble since early 2020.
Despite the obvious pitfalls that come with big music festivals; 20 second showers, $12 beers and a police presence to rival southwest Sydney, it’s safe to say Aussies are chomping at the bit for something even closely resembling a festival.
Organisers for Splendour in the Grass, Australia’s biggest music festival, have resorted to holding a virtual reality gig this weekend to whet the appetites of music fans.
Thousands in the entertainment industry have been forced to cancel overseas tours and revert to playing local reduced-capacity shows where possible to keep cash rolling in. When venues have been able to remain open, that is.
Ever-changing indoor regulations, sometimes being brought in at a moment’s notice, have thrown a spanner into the works for organisers, musicians, sound technicians and venue owners trying to turn a buck.
With half of Australia in lockdown, touring and events have completely hit the skids again.
For most in the industry, it’s purely a wait-and-see scenario with NSW now in an “indefinite” lockdown until zero community cases are detected.
Sydney venue booker for Vandida Robbie Macpherson says, explaining how reduced capacity shows have hit everyone between the venue managers, booking agencies and musicians on stage. Even before lockdowns, the music industry was a touch-and-go business, with many forced to work other jobs to keep a balanced cash flow in quieter times.
“For many in my position, our pay is derived from ticket sales after the event happens, even though our work to earn that pay involves weeks of communication with the venues and the artists leading up to the show,” Macpherson told news.com.au. “Lockdowns mean the show can’t go ahead, which I actually means I get double the normal workload, through the admin of rescheduling the dates and refunding tickets, but this time without the pay-off at the end.”
For Sasha L Smith, the constantly changing border situation between Australia’s states has made touring almost impossible. As the mind behind Melbourne-based psych-rock group The Black Heart Death Cult, Smith says touring has been a nightmare, having to cancel several shows around Australia on a moment’s notice.
However, what plagues his mind the most is the fact only two of his five-piece band have received a Covid jab.
“While booking another tour, I always had in the back of my mind some apprehension that something could happen again,” Smith told news.com.au “But now that it has the main concern I have is not that some shows have been cancelled but the fact that only two people in the band are half vaccinated and it isn’t clear at all when everyone will be.
“The safety of the band and the punters is way more important than any show. There is a seriously bad situation going down in Sydney at the moment and there is only one way out of it. The quicker we can all get vaccinated, the quicker we can put this situation down get back to some level of normalcy.”
Melbourne based musician Matilda Sutherland also shed light on the impact of Melbourne’s on-off lockdown periods, explaining how restrictions have hit the music and events industry.
“This last lockdown was particularly hard for anybody already struggling,” Ms Sutherland said. “It feels like music is very important to most people but in times of crisis its value is completely overlooked.”
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