Amy Shark queries the double standard of live music restrictions
‘It’s very, very frustrating,’ said Shark of the restrictions placed on live music compared to sport.
When pop singer-songwriter Amy Shark performed at the NRL Grand Final before about 40,000 fans in late October, she faced the biggest crowd any Australian musician had seen since March due to COVID gathering restrictions.
Yet in an apparent double standard, live music crowd numbers continue to lag well behind those allowed to attend major sporting matches, with a concert held in Sydney last weekend allowing only about 6000 fans in an arena that ordinarily holds up to 21,000.
“It’s very, very frustrating,” said Shark. “The conversation was all about COVID — now, the conversation is all about how it’s just so dramatically unfair.”
Last week, Shark was named best Australian live act at the ARIA Awards — which were held without a live audience — while her single Everybody Rise won best pop release. The two awards added to Shark’s overall tally of eight ARIA wins in four years.
Like many of her peers in the industry, the Gold Coast-born musician — who recently moved to Sydney — finds the different set of rules for sport and the arts perplexing.
“I’ve tried a lot this year to be a more positive person and be like, ‘Oh, maybe it’s [because the NRL final was] outside’, and maybe it’s this and maybe it’s that — but it’s actually just bullshit. It’s just a bit of a mind-f..k all over, really.”
With community transmission of COVID-19 seemingly now all but eliminated nationally, state governments are reopening their live entertainment sectors at different speeds.
This week, NSW announced that indoor venues will soon be allowed to operate with crowds at 75 per cent capacity from Monday, while sporting events will be able to run at 100 per cent capacity.
As well, up to 5000 people will be able to attend outdoor events in NSW that are fenced, ticketed and seated — subject to the two square metre rule — while non-seated events will allow up to 3000 people.
Yet in Queensland, outdoor events remain capped at 1500 people, prompting organisers of the upcoming Factory Summer music festival series in Brisbane — featuring electronic acts such as Peking Duk and The Presets — to reduce venue size and split shows across two nights in order to meet the crowd restrictions.
On April 30, 2021, Shark will release her second album Cry Forever, followed by a seven-date national arena tour beginning in Sydney on June 12 and ending in Perth on July 3.
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