"If the pandemic gave the general public an insight into touring life minus the hour onstage – ie, drinking earlier and earlier in the day to alleviate the tedium of being stuck in cramped, largely identical rooms with the same three or four people for months on end – for many musicians it had the opposite effect. By removing the social gigging element of their lives and careers, lockdown starkly exposed dependencies they’d previously been able to disguise as a typical rock’n’roll lifestyle" - music journalist Mark Beaumont wrote in the Independent introducing his piece about musicians who stopped drinking in the pandemic: members of Royal Blood, Deadletter, You Me At Six, Wu LYF and others.

The short documentary 'Field of Vision - We Were There to Be There', by Mike Plante and Jason Willis, on a legendary 1978 show at a California psychiatric hospital by the Cramps and the Mutants, is now online. "Taking place as cuts to crucial social services loom under Ronald Reagan, two legendary punk bands come together to perform a show for patients and staff at a psychiatric facility". It "threads moments from the Napa State Hospital set with commentary from band members and those who witnessed it firsthand, providing a crucial backstory for the recording of one of the most iconic shows in the history of music, at a critical moment in the future of mental health care in the US".

The UK is testing the relaxation of Covid rules with a trial festival this weekend in Liverpool, the Evening Standard reports. Fatboy Slim and Sven Väth will headline The First Dance at The Circus nightclub, which sold out its 6,000 tickets quickly - the first time any such event has been allowed for over a year. Clubbers will not be required to social distance or wear face coverings but will have to take a lateral flow test before entering the venue. The First Dance is part of the Events Research Programme (ERP), which will provide data on how events holding anywhere between hundreds and tens of thousands of people could safely reopen later this year.

Inspired by the 'Sound of Metal' movie, Guardian explores the problem of hearing loss among musicians, which, as it appears, is worryingly widespread. “For a musician, losing your hearing is like losing a hand” - says Steve Lukather of Toto, who developed tinnitus in 1986 and also suffers from hearing loss, but thanks to hearing aids he can continue his career. Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy was diagnosed with tinnitus in 2002, when he left the music business for 18 months only to come back thanks to meditation and the advanced technology of in-ear monitors. It's not only musicians who get it. Eleanor Goodman, deputy editor of Metal Hammer magazine, also has tinnitus - “I used to worry that people would think I couldn’t do my job. But when I started talking about it, I found out that tinnitus is very common in the music industry".

"I no longer have any need for drugs, the Maharishi or the Beatles. I am myself and I know why" - John Lennon has said at the time when his 'John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band' coming out, which was also when he was going through then-fashionable but now-discredited “primal scream” psychotherapy technique. The new technique was the work of psychotherapist Arthur Janov who believed that unlocking repressed childhood pain required a physical release - maybe even screaming. GQ brings the story of the cult-like therapy and its connection to the album (deluxe edition came out last week).

24-year old Grammy-nominated rapper CHIKA has announced her retirement from the music industry due to the impact it was having on her mental health. In a statement, she told fans that “the mental toll being in the industry has taken on me is not something you bounce back from easily”. CHIKA is known for being vocal about political and societal issues and was detained by police at a Los Angeles protest over the police killing of George Floyd last year.

Britney Spears spoke for the first time about the New York Times' documentary 'Framing Britney Spears' saying that she had cried for two weeks after seeing parts of it (she never saw the whole thing), Billboard reports. However, it's the other thing that she has said that speaks volumes about her mental health: "I do what I can in my own spirituality with myself to try and keep my own joy … love … and happiness !!!! Every day dancing brings me joy !!! I'm not here to be perfect … perfect is boring … I'm here to pass on kindness !!!! ... My life has always been very speculated … watched … and judged really my whole life !!! For my sanity I need to dance... every night of my life to feel wild and human and alive !!!".

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.

Demi Lovato had a wellness coach, dietician, nutritionist and therapist to keep her thin, Taylor Swift starved herself and excessively exercised to keep her body shape, Elton John suffered from bulimia, Zayn went for days without eating while feeling a lack of control over his life during his time in One Direction. In general, as Guardian reports, 32% musicians had experienced an eating disorder in their lifetime, while it affects 1.9% to 5.1% of the British population. Pop and R&B singer JoJo goes to the root of the problem - "the music industry is very unpredictable, so I think when you are able to control some aspect of your life – the way you eat, the way you look – then you feel you’re more in control”. Irish singer-songwriter James Vincent McMorrow echoes this sentiment - “When I can control the outcome of a situation, I feel good. And when I can’t, I feel terrible, and that manifests itself in how I see myself in the mirror”.

A growing body of research more directly links air and road-traffic noise to heightened risks for a number of cardiovascular ailments, the Atlantic points out. Estimates suggest that roughly a third of Americans are regularly exposed to unhealthy levels of noise, typically defined as starting around 70 to 80 decibels. People living near the Frankfurt airport, for example, have as much as a 7 percent higher risk of stroke than those living in similar but quieter neighborhoods. An analysis of nearly 25,000 cardiovascular deaths between 2000 and 2015 among people living near Zurich’s airport saw significant increases in nighttime mortality after airplane flyovers, especially among women.