Life

Lynette Fay: If Rishi and the rest of us don't cop on it'll be a long time before we can go to a gig

Like everyone in the arts, musicians despaired when the British chancellor suggested that they should retrain but we all have a part to play in ensuring that enjoying live music together doesn't become a thing of the past

Lynette Fay

Lynette Fay

Lynette is an award winning presenter and producer, working in television and radio. Hailing from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, she is a weekly columnist with The Irish News.

Lynette Fay – the feeling of standing in a crowd at a gig, feeling united in the music seems like a distant memory now. Picture by Press Eye/Darren Kidd
Lynette Fay – the feeling of standing in a crowd at a gig, feeling united in the music seems like a distant memory now. Picture by Press Eye/Darren Kidd Lynette Fay – the feeling of standing in a crowd at a gig, feeling united in the music seems like a distant memory now. Picture by Press Eye/Darren Kidd

THIS time last year, I went to one of the best gigs I have ever seen. The collective Bird On The Wire performed the greatest hits of Leonard Cohen in one of Belfast’s best live music venues – The Empire. It was sold out, the queue for the gig was round the block.

I have seen so many bands perform live in that venue over the years – Hothouse Flowers, The 4 of Us and Damien Dempsey have all served up nights I will never forget. The kind of nights when you think that the roof might just come off because of the raucous applause from the appreciative crowd at the end of the gig.

That night at Bird On The Wire was exactly the same. The crowd was at one, singing and swaying along to the exquisite lyrics of Cohen brought to life by the bewitching, airtight harmonies of Pauline Scanlon and The Whileaways. That feeling of standing in a crowd at a gig, feeling united in the music seems like a distant memory now.

As I write this week’s column, I’m sitting in the living room, watching Bird on a Wire perform in Cregg Castle, Co Galway. The gig is being streamed, behind a pay wall. I am more than happy to pay for this gig as I had hoped to go and see them in the Whitla Hall in September.

But all gigs are off – and have been for seven months now and there is very little hope on the horizon.

I have written about this before. Gigs are the main source of income for most professional musicians, be it a regular session gig, playing covers in a bar at the weekend or touring in concert venues – big or small.

In the past few months we have been encouraged to eat out to help out. The government has come to the aid of the hospitality sector but absolutely nothing has been done for musicians. Not a thing.

Last week Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak suggested that struggling musicians should retrain as something else. It is abundantly clear that the arts and creative industries are not a priority to him, or the government, given the inaction and lack of support for the music and entertainment industry when it is on its knees.

When times are good, who didn’t enjoy a night out at a gig? Depending on who is playing, we scramble to make sure that we have tickets, even boast that we were there. If something isn’t done soon, it might be quite a while before we are lucky enough to experience a big gig again.

Rishi Sunak’s comments hurt. Many musicians took to social media platforms to speak out against his comments. I was really struck by the words of the Scottish fiddle player Jenna Reid who tweeted: "Just can’t get my head around why the arts is deemed to be worthless to some. Music lives and breathes across the globe, connects us all, it’s a medicine, a treasure and worth more than money can buy."

Some will say that the government appears to be selective in who it is supporting through this economic downturn, others will say that it cannot come to the aid of everyone.

In the meantime, music is being devalued. Many musicians panicked into performing free gigs on social media during lockdown. I can’t see how many or any of them generated any income from this. While even socially distanced gigs aren’t an option at present, performing behind a paywall might offer a temporary solution for some.

After a little glimmer of hope, and relaxing of restrictions on our lives, the virus is still among us, and, at time of writing, it is spreading faster than ever. As a result of soaring numbers of infection, the GAA has responsibly called time on remaining club games and training. Pubs and restaurants now have to close earlier. Mass unemployment is forecast for the coming months. The outlook is bleak.

Our failure to socially distance, wash our hands, wear a mask and limit our social contacts is prolonging the whole situation for all of us.

We are all fed up, but perhaps it’s time to ‘cop on a small bit’ and follow the guidelines? Listen to the experts.

Are we really that stupid that we need to wait on a directive from the executive to tell us what we should do in order to control the coronovirus?