Live Issues - Many UK towns and cities have seen a drastic reduction in live music because bands and singers are playing half as many gigs on tour as they did in the 1990s. Artists are playing 11 shows on an average tour on the grassroots circuit this year, compared with 22 in 1994, according to new figures from the Music Venue Trust. Those figures also "reflect what we're hearing about the mid-capacity and arena level" tours, said Jon Collins, chief executive of the live music trade body, Live.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told a music industry conference on Friday that "too many parts of the country have become cultural deserts" after more than a hundred music venues closed last year. That is the chance to live a larger, richer life, that should belong to us all, denied to a generation," she said. "And pop is getting posher."
The Music Venue Trust said its members normally sell about 20m tickets per year in total, but that the figure is expected to drop to 15mthis year. There has been a "dramatic decrease in the total amount of live music in our communities" and an "increasingly small number of places [are] included on the touring circuit", it said.
Glasto Update - The first batch of tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2025 will go on sale next month. Organisers of the UK's biggest music festival have confirmed coach ticket packages will go on sale on Thursday 14 November, with standard tickets going on sale on Sunday 17 November. The festival will take place from 25 to 29 June 2025, before taking a year off in 2026.
Tickets for the 2025 festival will cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee - an increase of £18.50 on last year. The deposit - the amount customers pay to secure their ticket - is £75. A resale will then take place in the spring. Last year the tickets sold out in under an hour. The artists that will play at Glastonbury 2025 are yet to be announced.
Bass Notes - Items from Ultravox's Live Aid performance nearly 40 years ago are to be sold at auction. The bass guitar played by Chris Cross at the 1985 Wembley concert, held to raise money for famine relief in Africa, is expected to fetch in excess of £4,000.
The memorabilia is being sold on 3 December, in Corsham in Wiltshire, following the death of Cross, 71, in March. Auctioneer Luke Hobbs, from Gardiner Houlgate, said: "We're expecting interest from around the world. For musicians, Chris's collection of around 400 items is a real treasure trove." In addition to more than 30 guitars and a range of synthesizers, the Chris Cross collection includes Ultravox gold discs from around the world.
Moon Music - Coldplay's 10th album, Moon Music, charted at number one in the UK, selling more copies than the rest of the Top 40 combined. The record shifted 237,000 UK chart units - a measure that incorporates streams, downloads and physical sales - over the last seven days, said the Official Charts Company. It is the biggest opening week for a British album since Adele's 30 was released in 2021. Coldplay now draw level with ABBA, Michael Jackson and Queen on the list of acts with the most number ones on the official albums chart, each with 10 apiece. The Beatles hold the all-time record, having topped the chart 16 times.
The Glitch - The former producers of Vault Festival are to relaunch their Waterloo-based bar, cafe, and performance space The Glitch in a bid to make it the "most affordable venue" in London for fringe artists. The Glitch is being relaunched as an enlarged 55-seat, in-the-round theatre, building on its current 30-seat offering, with the team behind it hoping to fill a gap left by the closure of the Vault Festival earlier this year after a new home for the event fell through.
The Glitch, run by Vault Creative Arts, has secured funding from the local council, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and central government to aid the transformation, with newly appointed artistic director and chief executive Oli Savage saying that the team would be staying true to the ambition of the Vault Festival by offering performance hire out at a 70/30 box-office split. "We’re acutely aware of the loss represented by the festival, and we’re keen to plug that gap," he said.
Film Boost - A new indie film hub is set to open at Pinewood Studios to encourage more low budget UK films. Independent film makers will be able to use sound stages, as well as production offices and workshop space on the site in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. Camera hire, drone photography and post-production will also be among the services available when the hub opens next summer. The launch comes as the government’s Independent Film Tax Credit, external was passed into law. It means independent films with a budget of under £15m will get a 53% tax break.
James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli said: “This is a good day for independent film. It is essential to the British film industry that independent films get produced and exhibited as this will ensure the promotion of new talent both in front of and behind the screen.”
(Jim Evans)
15 October 2024
