When we forget the infection
Parasite Eve, Bring Me The Horizon, 2019
Will we remember the lesson?
As each day passes without the next gig or festival to set your dates for, more and more tropes, events and memories have been brought back for us to enjoy once again, allowing us to share our experience of our favourite festivals, gigs, theatre plays and entertainment prior to the pandemic.
Bands are capitalising on the loss of action themselves by selling past gigs on live vinyl editions, sharing quotes and statements from shared experiences, and even holding Zoom meetings with fans themselves to not forget what has been missed.
It’s always good to look back on times beforehand – gazing in awe at a crowd of sardine-like fans rubbing shoulder-to-shoulder as they whoop and cheer on for their favoured artists on stage, amazed at how times have changed compared to keep-to-yourself and get-away-from-me 2020.
A year, I think most people would agree with, in which is to be a complete write-off.
With good recovery not set for another four years, it seems that the live music economy is in a state of disrepair. With thousands of live music workers’ jobs on the line and their corresponding independent venues looking to fall the same way, there is an emergency on our hands.
This is why we have been raising donations and funds across all aspects of UK from the creatives and the inspired to save as many as we can. And we have been trying our damn hardest, that’s for sure.
And of course, we must look at where we are going with an open mind. In a years’ time, we should see more tour cycles on stadium and venue rosters’, we should look forward to more summer anthems to blast at your favourite summer festivals from all parts of the UK.
We should appreciate the power of music. Of course, it’ll come back sooner or later. Now, whether we are ready for it or now, begs another question.
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The power of music, specifically live music.
These shows. The moments we share in a venue together. The band and the audience.
Words we wrote in a garage or studio or an idea scribbled down in the middle of the night, or written in the depths of self-doubt and despair.
To sing songs and have those songs sung back to us. A shared experience between everyone.
It’s amazing to see you smiling and laughing. Several times on this tour I’ve looked out during Adam’s Song and seen people weeping, crying and holding their friends or spouses. Maybe remembering a lost friend or love one, or a difficult time in one’s life.
To have a song bring strangers together to rejoice, to mourn, to remember. It’s awesome and humbling and it means the world to me. You all mean the world to me. Thank you.
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Mark Hoppus, Blink-182, Sept 15 2019
mvm. 
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