NSW ends five-week statewide ban on singing and dancing

After five weeks of pain for the live music industry, the NSW government has announced restrictions on concerts will lift from Friday.

Since before Christmas, Queensland has been the best place in Australia to attend live music events without restrictions, as this crowd at Wildlands Festival on December 26 shows. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Five weeks after banning singing and dancing at all live music events in Australia’s most populous state, the NSW government on Thursday announced that these restrictions would be lifted from Friday.

Since the NSW government made amendments to its public health order on January 10 in response to high numbers of Omicron cases, the only live music events to be held anywhere in the state were either indoor theatre shows or outdoor music festivals where patrons were told to remain seated.

These restrictions were extended on January 27, ostensibly for another four weeks, a decision which brought further pain to industry workers by crippling their ability to plan or host events until March, or for most live music venues to open their doors at all.

At a media conference held in Sydney on February 3 while announcing the full line-up for its government-funded Great Southern Nights concert series, NSW tourism minister Stuart Ayres said he was “pretty confident” the singing and dancing ban would end on February 27.

But in a classic case of government decision-makers changing their minds without consulting the industry feeling the effects of their decisions, the lifting of the ban was announced on Thursday by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet with zero forewarning.

Everyone in the state’s music industry, from touring company executives and promoters down to casual shift workers and bar staff, learned that their lives had been changed once again in the space of a few words spoken at a press conference.

Thankfully, this time their lives had changed for the better: NSW live music industry workers could again return to their jobs without the imposition of government health restrictions affecting their ability to trade.

Mr Perrottet said on Thursday that his government could ease these restrictions because of “the efforts people have made across the state”.

“These changes are measured and proportionate to the circumstances we find ourselves in and are particularly due can I say to the efforts of everybody across our state,” he said.

While also announcing the lifting of all density limits on NSW hospitality venues – including pubs, nightclubs and indoor concert venues – the Premier said, “Where we were sitting when we brought out those scenarios in our health system and the capacity within our health system, we are tracking incredibly well.”

To music industry workers who had their summer concert schedules and livelihoods destroyed by the five-week ban on singing and dancing, the Premier’s words offered cold comfort.

“I think it’s beyond anger now,” national tour promoter Chris O’Brien told The Australian on January 14 in response to the public health order amendment. “There’s zero confidence in governments, because anything they tell us now, how are we supposed to believe it?”

Also on Thursday, the Victorian government announced that density limits in its hospitality venues will be dumped from Friday.

In effect, the new changes to all live music events held in NSW and Victoria will bring both states in line with Queensland, whose live music industry has been able to operate at full capacity indoors and outdoors throughout the summer.

Since before Christmas, Queensland has been the best place in Australia to attend live music events without restrictions.

Heaving crowds of happy fans – young and old, masked and unmasked – can attest to the positive attitude taken by Queensland’s chief health officer, Dr John Gerrard, to do away with density limits and simply let the live entertainment industry get back to doing what it does best: stage concerts and festivals.

As of Friday, it’s no longer the case that Queensland is the best place to see live music – and for thousands of workers who want nothing more than the ability to trade, host events and tour nationally without restrictions, it’s the first good news in more than a month.