A new survey has found that 75 per cent of music fans in the UK would be comfortable attending a live music event that has a method of COVID certification in place.
The survey, which was conducted in April by the UK live music industry body LIVE, took in the views of 25,000 people and has been described as “the most detailed research yet on the attitudes of UK music fans towards the return of live events” in a post-pandemic world.
75 per cent of the respondents to LIVE’s survey said they would be happy to attend a live music event if a method of COVID certification was in place in order to gain entry.
More than half of those surveyed said they were ready to make an immediate return to live music, with a further 25 per cent willing to come back with appropriate safety measures – including hand sanitiser stations, temperature checking and one-way systems – in place.
41 per cent of respondents said, however, that they would be put off attending a live music event if they had to wear a face mask.
85 per cent of the live music fans surveyed said they were planning on attending either the same or a higher number of live music events when they recommence than before the pandemic, while 55 per cent have already bought tickets for live music events in the coming months.
“After a devastating year for the live music industry it is fantastic to see the strength of feeling from fans across the UK who are desperate to get back to live music events,” Greg Parmley, CEO of LIVE, said. “The industry has worked tirelessly to ensure that we can return as quickly and safely as possible.
“It is notable that fans are willing to live with short-term mitigation measures in order to get back to live music as quickly as possible, with three quarters saying that they would be happy with a COVID-certification system as part of those measures.”
Another recent survey found that over 28,500 shows have already been booked across England’s independent grassroots music venues in 2021.
Beverley Whitrick, strategic director of The Music Venue Trust (who conducted that survey), told NME that “the grassroots sector is stepping up and putting its own time and money into answering the demand for live music in our communities”.
Reading & Leeds boss Melvin Benn told NME at the Sefton Park COVID pilot gig in Liverpool (where all entrants where tested for coronavirus before being allowed in) last weekend that he remained confident that his festivals would take place this summer as planned.
“I never lost hope to be honest,” he said. “Will everybody still have to be tested by then? I suspect we will still have to test people, but of course a lot of people will have the vaccination already and that will probably mean they won’t need to be tested. We’ll wait and see what the government say but what we will know is that if it’s done properly it won’t increase the spread of the virus.”
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