The live music industry in the UK is facing massive staff shortages as gigs begin to return - industry bodies have written to the UK prime minister Boris Johnson calling for the government to help fill vacant roles, NME reports. They suggest the government "temporarily ease immigration requirements for the large numbers of workers, particularly from the EU, who have returned to their homelands during the lockdowns". A study in 2020 by the UK’s Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence estimated that 1.3 million migrants left the UK between July 2019 and September 2020.

REDEF Set started a new curated collection of articles Live Music 2.0(21), about the state of live music in the (vaccinated part of the) world. There are several paths that could be taken: vaccinated fans in the orchestra section wearing black wristbands, non-vaccinated (but negative-tested) fans in the balconies, everybody in masks (like the Los Angeles Opera); Springsteen on Broadway will reopen end of June - attendees will need proof of vaccination and a photo ID to get in; club doors open to a full-capacity crowd, masks encouraged but not required.

"It may have been only 10 minutes, but I'll be thinking about my One-to-One Concert with Mario Gotoh for a long time to come" - NPR's Jeff Lunden wrote after attending a concert where there was a musician - and himself. These concerts are the brainchild of German flutist Stephanie Winker and a couple of colleagues, who wanted to create an unusually intimate musical experience. Launched two years ago in Stuttgart, they've been done in Australia, Japan, India, across Europe, and the US, and have proven quite suitable in corona-times

New concerts are being added on a daily basis to the touring schedule in the US, mostly by American artists, thanks to the high vaccination rate. Trapital's Dan Runcie asks, rightfully so, "will you have the energy (and money) to still attend all their shows in the post-pandemic boom?". Live Nation's CEO Michael Rapino sits down with Recode’s Peter Kafka to talk about the industry’s comeback and how he’s figured out new tricks.

In Australia, the road to recovery for live music is happening six to nine months ahead of the world, promoters say, according to Rolling Stone. Clubs are pumping in Brisbane, where venue capacities have been entirely lifted. Artists like Courtney Barnett, Keith Urban, Guns N' Roses and others are announcing tours on a daily basis. Festivals have resumed with all-local lineups, venue capacities are slowly lifting, and dancing is now permitted. By late April, Australia recorded 910 deaths due to Covid, with fewer than 30,000 confirmed cases among its population of 25 million. Community transmissions have been close to zero for months. Visitors aren't really welcome yet - a 2-week quarantine in a hotel room is compulsory.

Indie pop bands Blossoms and The Lathums played Liverpool's Sefton Park in Liverpool Sunday evening in what was the UK's first live music gig in more than a year, NME reports. The 5,000 fans were required to take a supervised COVID test before arrival, with entry only permitted once a negative test had been received. Once inside, fans did not need to wear masks, socially distance, or stick to the rule of six, and could also enjoy bars and food stalls. Fans will need to take another lateral flow test in five days time to see the event’s impact on spreading the virus.

Five thousand people attended a concert in Barcelona on Saturday night (March 27) as part of a COVID-19 experiment looking at the possibility of holding live music events with no social distancing if rapid testing is employed, al Jazeera reports. All attendees at the gig were tested ahead of the gig and the antigen test results were reported back to the attendees within 10 to 15 minutes via an app on their phones. The ticket price of $23 came with a rapid test and mask included. The show, which saw Spanish rock band Love of Lesbian playing at the Palau Sant Jordi arena, is said to be the biggest concert in Europe since the pandemic began last year.

World's second largest concert promoter has begun bringing back part-time and full-time employees who had been furloughed or saw their hours reduced during the pandemic with the first phase of employees returning April 1, Billboard reports. The second phase of AEG's rehiring involves full time employees who were moved to part time status. Those employees will be returned to full time status starting April 1 with the process expected to be completed by June 1. The third and final tier involves employees that were furloughed during the pandemic and are now expected to return to work full-time in the fall. AEG's main competitor Live Nation plans to begin staffing up as capacity restrictions are lifted on venues owned or leased by the company.

American media are looking into clues about future performances after watching Patti Smith perform at the Brooklyn Museum Beaux-Arts. Rolling Stone was there with other 50-ish people: "We’ve forgotten how to have a good time with each other. It’s going to take time to figure out what makes sense for each individual, how to enjoy being alive together again. But this was a start". Smith's show was a part of NY PopsUp, a series of over 300 performances spread across the state and five boroughs over 100 days. Pitchfork saw it as a move forward: "If NY PopsUp is meant to initiate the baby steps needed to inch our way back to a normal and robust music scene, it seemed like a productive rehearsal for both audience and performer".

This past January and February, New Zealand pop-rock band SIX60 held a Saturdays Tour, on consecutive weekends, playing to, all summed up, 125,000 people, Pollstar reports. Their tour began at Waitangi Sports Ground in Waitangi (Jan. 16) when they played to 20,000 people, as well as at Tomoana Showgrounds in Hastings (Jan. 23). The TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth (Jan.30) attracted 15,000, Hagley Park in Christchurch (Feb. 6) had 23,000, The Wellington show was on Feb. 13 with 32,000, and the final date at Claudelands Oval in Hamilton was to 25,000 on Feb. 27. All this was possible thanks to New Zealand’s successful response to COVID-19. With no social distancing restrictions or bans on mass gatherings, no other act in the world has played to an audience that size in 2021 as well as for most of 2020.

A great series of texts in Guardian by the members of Mogwai, Chic, Charlatans, Haim, Hot Chip and others about the joy of playing live. Chris of the Christine and the Queens goes all the way with her text: "I like the animalistic side of touring: it’s about being a nice beast on stage, you have to sniff things and feel things and adapt. I like the accidents, the awkwardness of it. It can be really humbling because you think you know your show, and then you learn it again because the audience reacts differently. I like the challenge – to prove myself on stage, to try to win people over. It’s almost like a Don Juan thing, every time you have to make love, and you have to find a different way".

Tame Impala played two sold-out, maskless concerts on Friday in Perth, as Tame Impala Sound System sets, bringing a sense of normalcy down under where the Covid-numbers are quite low, while the rest of the world is pretty much quarantined, NME reports. Tame Impala’s TISS sees Parker and co. reimagine tracks from the band’s discography with synths, sequencers, and samplers, creating "pulsating, fully live and organic, free-flowing digital jam out”.

New York will allow performances venues to reopen starting April 2, with capacity capped at 33%, with social distancing and face coverings required by all attendees. AEG CEO Jay Marciano has said previously to Rolling Stone that this can't work: “We built an industry based upon selling out. It’s important for the experience. The first 50 percent of the tickets pay for expenses like the stagehands and the marketing, the ushers, and the rest and the venue, and the other 50 percent is shared between the artists and the promoter - so, if all you’re going to sell is 50 percent of tickets, nobody’s making any money. Selling 85 percent of tickets is roughly the break-even”. So, what's left is multiplying the ticket price by 3, right?!?

More than 100 Italian artists staged a silent protest L'Ultimo Concerto last Saturday to raise awareness for the struggling live music industry. Italian musicians came to the venues and prepared everything just like for a normal show - with their instruments and sound-checks and all - and then just stood still in silence.

The prospect capacity re-opening in the largest U.S. markets with over 75% capacity was “within sight”, Live Cation's CEO Michael Rapino told Music Business Worldwide. He said that “a clear outline to a 75% to 100% capacity for outdoor U.S. events in 2021 was looking likely to be green-lit”. Good news from the UK as well - festival organisers are enjoying record ticket sales after the government’s announcement of its roadmap out of lockdown in England, Guardian reports.

Huck tells the story of the LA punk scene which survived the pandemic with dozens of backyard gigs. The magazine argues "this attitude – of taking personal responsibility for yourself and your actions, despite what the rules say – is a common one in the DIY punk scene". Beko, the singer and frontman of punk band Lazy Dream, explains the attitude: “Our whole method is do-it-yourself. We were tired of waiting for people to do the recording thing, so we just did the recording ourselves… With the shows, we did that as well. We were like, ‘Ok, we have this backyard right here, might as well throw a show. Because if no one’s going to hire us or invite us anywhere, might as well do it ourselves’”.

British pianist Joseph Middleton describes the hassle he would have to go through to play a recital in Spain: "Even though I would only spend 24 hours there, my agent would be required to work on a raft of extra paperwork, my accountant to furnish me with documents giving proof of income, and my bank would need to provide me with recent certified bank statements (no pesky home printouts here, thank you). My passport would need to be submitted to the Spanish embassy and held there until the visa was processed, causing problems for when I had to travel for other work". And it's an expensive hassle as well - £600 just for visa costs.

Unable to play in "standard" venus due to the pandemic, the artists had to come up with novel ideas for places to play. It seems as if they're just getting started. Hot Since 82 played his sets from a hot air balloon and from under a pier, Liam Gallagher played aboard a barge as it floated down the River Thames with London's lockdown skyline and landmarks in full view, Biffy Clyro played from within a cube, Disclosure played a DJ set from above a waterfall at a national park... BBC reports about the start of something really new.

The Coda Collection is a new multi-media company featuring rare concerts and music documentaries, exclusive premieres for films and more, Deadline reports. The founders include Yoko Ono and Jimi Hendrix' sister Jaine so it will feature Rock'n'roll leaning shows, including streaming premieres such as 'Music, Money, Madness…Jimi Hendrix In Maui', 'The Rolling Stones On The Air', 'Johnny Cash at San Quentin', exclusive performances by Jane’s Addiction and Stone Temple Pilots, as well as new and rarely seen performances by Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Avett Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Paul Simon, AC/DC, and more. The channel is launching on Amazon Prime in February for $4.99 per month and globally throughout the rest of 2021.

The Flaming Lips played their first space bubbles show in Oklahoma City's The Criterion on Friday night (it was postponed from December due to rising COVID numbers). The show had fans in 100 inflatable balls, each of which could hold three people. Members of the band were in their own capsules as well. The band put on a typically bombastic spectacle, Brooklyn Vegan reports.

Primavera Sound held a clinical trial, with the help of experts, to see if a live music event held at an indoor venue with proper precautions but no social distancing guidelines could be safe from coronavirus transmission, NME reports. On December 12th in Barcelona, 463 individuals entered a concert hall featuring two DJ sets and two live bands. Attendees were between the ages of 18 and 59, they were all given a rapid Covid test and received a negative result within 15 minutes. They were each given a N95 mask, alcoholic drinks were served, the venue had optimized airflow and ventilation, and attendees were only allowed to remove their masks when drinking. There were however no social distance restrictions, and dancing and singing along were allowed. The event lasted five hours. Eight days later none of the group members tested positive to Covid.

"When I was young and did a set at a jazz club called the Tin Palace, there was a bass player named Richard Davis who saw me singing, and he told me, 'You have to talk to your audience, people like to be talked to'. And I think he's right" - Suzanne Vega explained to AllMusic her latest live release, 'An Evening of New York Songs and Stories', which brings together 15 songs with Vega explaining the stories behind many of the songs. "Imagine a setlist full of songs like 'Cracking' and 'Luka' and 'Gypsy' with no stories and no explanations, it would feel really weird. The shows that I've done where I don't speak, it quickly has a weird atmosphere" - Vega explains, adding - "I had so much weirdness that I thought, if I wanted applause at the end of the show, you've got to talk to your audience".

For the venues to be reopened, the society needs to reach an effective level of herd immunity, which means vaccinating from 70 percent to 85 percent of the population, dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert said, the New York Times reports. In the case of the US, "this will occur some time in the fall of 2021, so that by the time we get to the early to mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage as well as people in the audience”. Once that happens, theaters with good ventilation and proper air filters might not need to place many restrictions for performances by the fall, including venues capacity, except asking their audience members to wear masks, which he suggested could continue to be a norm for some time.

The days of the traditional stage set-up are numbered, "at least in theatres and concert halls the size that I would normally play" - David Byrne says Mark Beaumont in an NME interview about the future of shows. He elaborates: "The fact that we can get the music digitally [means] a performance has to be really of value. It has to be really something special, because that’s where the performers are getting their money and that’s what the audience is paying for. They’re not paying very much for streaming music, but they are paying quite a bit to go and see a performance, so the performance has to give them value for money… It has to be really something to see”. Byrne also talks about social media and technology.

The concert industry in North America alone stands to lose more than $30 billion in 2020, Pollstar reports. Touring and live performances lost $9.7 billion, with the rest of the $30 billion deficit coming from things like sponsorships, ticketing costs, concessions, merch, and ancillary businesses like transportation, restaurants, and hotels.

“The gigging lifestyle - where musicians are freelancing from one independent job to another - I don’t know if that’s going to be around in New York after this. You’ll probably see some 'Mad Max' scenario where the young guys claw their way to survival” - Spike Wilner, the owner of two New York jazz clubs Mezzrow and Smalls, says in a Curbed interview. “Every jazz club that presents music is part of a chain, like a food chain, supplying life force to this community”, Wilner said, adding - “when the environment dries up, less and less animals are allowed to live”.

Ticketmaster is working on a system that would allow concerts to resume, and it is based on verifying the vaccination status of attendees before allowing them entrance to shows, or else making sure they've recently tested negative for the virus, Billboard reports. Ticketmaster is working on a smartphone-based system that would allow ticketholders to send proof of having received a vaccine, or having tested negative during a 24-48 hour period, without which they would be denied entrance to events.

Music fans are patient and are hoping to return to shows once they're an option, Live Nation report on refunds shows. Refund rates remain low, more than a half a year after the lockdown began, 83% of Live Nation customers are electing to keep their tickets for rescheduled show dates rather than get their money back. Live Nation remains confident in a summer 2021 return.

Vice published a great text about the lack of live music, and what really we are missing (not the sounds coming out of speakers): "It’s the one thing, besides sports, that provides community when no one else gives a shit. The impact that has on opportunity and quality of life, even – in fact especially – in the context of financial hardship, is huge. So it’s baffling, although does not surprise me in the slightest, that when it comes to making 'necessary cuts' to 'save' the economy, cultural and social services are always the first against the wall. People rarely consider things they don’t need, and no one needs fun less than rich people".

Three 6 Mafia announced what they claim will be the first arena show in the US since the pandemic began, WTVQ reports. The Dec. 11 show at RUPP ARENA in Lexington will be reduced from a capacity of 21,017 to 15 percent, which amounts to 3,152 concert-goers and event staff. The attendees will be required to wear masks and to have their temperature checked upon entry. The audience will be located in pods of 4 people or less to ensure social distancing. Tickets go for $42 to $153.