The music industry continues to struggle with how to move forward and survive during the pandemic, and that includes live music venues who have been disproportionately harmed. Many who value freedom over health and life have cried out on the internet to “just open the clubs back up,” but we’re seeing now that it is not a model that is sustainable.
This past Tuesday, English punk and folk singer-songwriter Frank Turner played the first socially distanced indoor gig in the UK, but organizers for the event have unfortunately declared the show as “not a success,” reports BBC.
Following safety guidelines, the venue only allowed 200 people of the 1,250-person capacity venue to enter the show. Staggered arrivals, temperature checks, one-way paths, distanced seats, and more were implemented. Despite all of this, the show didn’t make enough to cover the venue’s operating costs. 
Venue manager Ally Wolf said the show was “a gesture of cooperation, an attempt to feel out the situation with an eye to taking steps in a better direction” rather than the beginning of any sort of longer series of shows.
The show and pilot program as a whole were scheduled in anticipation of August 1st, when indoor concerts will finally be permissible in England.
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via Consequence of Sound | Photo via @capturedbycorinne
