Can live music properly return to Australia in 2022?
*Amy Taylor voice*: Security, will you let me in your pub? I'm not looking for trouble; I'm looking for gigs
Yesterday, one of my favourite international bands rescheduled their inaugural Australian tour yet again due to Covid-19 related restrictions. I was expecting this; there was no way Fontaines D.C. would be coming from Ireland to play in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane next month. While international borders are now open in Victoria and New South Wales, and Queensland will follow soon, there is too much uncertainty and too many different rules concerning quarantine per state. However, I was anticipating a 2022 tour, not 2023! International bands will be lining up tours for 2022 as I type this, and Australia won’t be a must-visit destination for a long time if the federal and state governments continue dragging their heels reopening the country.
I can’t say that I’m surprised that all levels of government in Australia have shown such disregard for the entertainment industry. Before the Morrison Liberal-National Coalition (LNP) took power, his predecessors, John Howard (Liberal Party), Kevin Rudd (Labor Party), Julia Gillard (Labor), Tony Abbott (Liberal), and Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal), presented an Arts Minister. Under Howard, the position was named Minister for Communications, the Information Economy and the Arts before changing to Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Cool titles, right? They make sense, and they sound respectable.
Since Scott Morrison entered his incumbency as Prime Minister of Australia, the label has changed three times: first, it was Minister for Communications and the Arts (not bad), then Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, and from December 2020, Paul Fletcher was named the federal Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts.
You can’t tell me that workers in the arts are prioritised by this government, not even if the Labor opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, cosies up to his local music shop on Record Store Day. If you love music so much, maybe your party should promise to implement policies to look after the entertainment sector? Just an idea. Paul Fletcher’s title shows that music is at the bottom of the ladder, the bemoaned “avocado-loving latte-sipping bearded hipsters” who contribute nothing to society in the eyes of the LNP.
So, if the federal government doesn’t care about music, who does?
In Australia, artists have one TV destination to perform on: The Sound on ABC. There is no government funding for the show. Mushroom Studios produce The Sound under the Mushroom Group umbrella. Launched in July 2020 by the late, great Michael Gudinski, the program quickly provided much-needed relief for workers and fans stung by the live music sector shutdown due to Covid-19. Gudinski knew that the situation for our artists was dire when he criticised the lack of live local music on Australian television:
“If you look at the Top 40 at the moment, there are three Australian singles.
“It’s very frustrating because there’s been no outlet for acts to play new songs — not their old hits — whether they’re young, medium-sized acts, or older acts.
“So two-thirds of The Sound is going to be artists of all ages performing their new tracks.”
Stephanie Ashworth from Something for Kate discussed the situation with me in December last year.
“Music on television has just completely diminished in this country. I mean, there used to be all these shows, we used to do so much television; we used to perform online, there must have been eight different TV shows we would do when we had a new single. And now there’s The Sound.
The Sound is such an important thing for musical culture in this country. And there should be more of it.
Michael Gudinski is single-handedly holding up music television in Australia. He’s an incredible force. So, I think that music on television is crucial and so missed.”
This year, ABC revived another flagship Australian music program, The Set, after a hiatus. Why is ABC the only televised home for live, local music in this country? We don’t have an equivalent to Saturday Night Live or late-night talk shows with three different hosts named Jimmy in Australia, where artists all around the country perform on TV every night. It’s such a shame; such a loss to already suffering artists. Musicians and their crews deserve so much better.
What happens to the Australian music industry when we get to “covid-normal”?
When Victoria reached the 80% vaccination milestone for people 16+, we expected live music to make a grand return. It sort of has.
Last weekend, a crowd of 4,000 socially-distanced concertgoers attended a concert at the iconic Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Melbourne’s first post-lockdown gig came a day after Premier Dan Andrews removed the outdoor mask mandate. Dubbed a “Heroes Welcome” by Music Feeds, Play On Victoria headliners Baker Boy, Amyl and the Sniffers, and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard came ready to play, all with fresh material up their sleeves. Timeless songwriter Grace Cummings and trusted veterans Vika & Linda Bull accompanied the raucous headliners. This emotional day reminded thousands that music always has the power to bring us together like nothing else.
On the other hand, live music advocates Save Our Scene Victoria called out the state government on Instagram, saying Play On is a great show, but only one show. One gig doesn’t equal a music scene. The Victorian Minister for Creative Industries, Danny Pearson, must help more people in the arts. The roadmap to reopening at 80% vaccination only allows for one person per four square metres, a fraction of most venues’ licenced capacity. Or, rooms can hold 150 people in a 600-square metre space. A majority of sites cannot operate under these conditions.
Save Our Scene Victoria organisers continued, saying:
“This lack of certainty impacts everyone in our sector, not just venues but artists, bookers, promoters, technicians, PA suppliers, publicists and everyone else in the music industry supply chain. We have effectively been in lockdown since March 2020. So many people have given up hope, and to be left off the map — again — is crushing to an already decimated sector.
We need clarity.
We need transparency.
We need to be part of the plan.”
However, when Victoria reaches the 90% vaccination milestone, there will be no caps or density quotas for live entertainment venues. We are forecast to get 90% of the 16+ and 12+ population in 16 and 19 days. But, I don’t know if small platforms like The Curtin, where I first saw Charly Bliss and Spacey Jane, or Stay Gold, where I have seen my friends play, will make it. The dingy pubs and clubs are crucial to an artist’s development as a performer. Do you think that The Beatles or AC/DC went straight to playing in stadiums? No way — without the Cavern Club in Liverpool or The Espy in St. Kilda, Melbourne, neither band would have progressed very far. Spacey Jane had to wow the clubs before graduating to wowing the crowds at Fremantle Arts Centre and Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
We are nearly there. According to the Victorian government,
“At [90% vaccination], caps or density quotients will be removed for all settings, and masks will only be mandatory indoors in some high-risk settings such as hospitals, aged care, public transport and justice and correctional facilities.
There will be no restrictions for indoor and outdoor events provided they follow COVIDSafe rules including vaccination requirements.”
Melbourne will recover and regain its title as one of the best music cities in the world. We must remember what makes this music scene so great. Local acts like The Angels, the Divinyls, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and Kylie Minogue had the opportunity to grow as performers and create fandoms as my parents began regularly attending shows.
International artists such as Blondie, Madonna, and John Mellencamp also found their feet in Australia. They are a mere handful of artists who gained their first hits thanks to Melbourne music mogul Molly Meldrum and his weekly music television program, Countdown, on ABC from November 1974 to July 1987. Fontaines D.C. will also thrive in Australia — the post-punks are on rotation on Double J; their second album, A Hero’s Death, peaked at #26 on the ARIA chart last year despite their debut, Dogrel not making a dent on the chart.
Homegrown artists Thelma Plum and Alice Skye deserve a fair go. Their vanguards flourished before an enthusiastic Victorian audience; Hiatus Kaiyote and The Avalanches should celebrate their triumphant new albums after a lengthy break between their releases.
I believe that Melbourne will recover from the turmoil since the first lockdown in March 2020. Play On Victoria sold out in minutes; 80,000 people will attend the Boxing Day Test; concerts are getting announced left, right, and centre, signifying that we’re getting back to normal. Restaurants and shopping centres are filling up. We won’t allow this excellent state to disintegrate.
Melbourne doesn’t need to be the sole Australian global music city going into 2022
The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us all, not just Australians, that we are capable of flexibility and can adapt during a crisis. Employers of big businesses have leaned into the working from home model. Of course, WFH doesn’t work for everybody. It’s great for the lucky people with a computer or a laptop, high internet speeds, and a home office; not so great for parents with young kids and trying to homeschool them while working from home — but it’s about time workplaces faced a change that benefits workers as well as CEOs.
In terms of music, gigs have finally become accessible thanks to live streams. Not the ideal way to watch a concert, sure, but people with physical disabilities, social anxiety, or who can’t afford stadium shows watched their favourite bands from their bedrooms during a lockdown. Hopefully, music venues will pivot to accessibility for all in 2022. Or, look at Perth, Western Australia, hosting the AFL Grand Final this year while Melbourne was in lockdown. As a biased Melburnian, that sucked; at least the game could go on. We can change when it’s asked of us.
Amazing artists reside in every Australian town, so any state in this country can be a renowned music juggernaut. With government funding assisting the entertainment sector, the end of density caps and other restrictions, the land will again be booming with groundbreaking venues and artists.
While I am confident about Melbourne recovering and rejoining the world, I am not optimistic about Australia’s “zero-covid” states — Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania — joining us.
Western Australia remains closed off to the rest of the country, and it’s taking a long time for Premier Mark McGowan to unveil his state’s reopening plan. Alongside the remaining zero-covid states, WA has remote Indigenous Australian communities particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, wary of the vaccines, and white men mandating anything in their lives. McGowan receives unsavoury media coverage due to decisions like denying people from Victoria or New South Wales entering Western Australia on compassionate grounds; he would do anything to keep WA safe. I find denying people the right to support dying loved ones abhorrent and shutting borders to Australians inexcusable. Still, with vaccination rates surging across the entire country, we are finally moving forward.
It’s just that no local or international band will bother with the expenses of touring Australia next year. Not until the numerous border closures and ongoing state-by-state restrictions (outlined in the latest Crab Institute newsletter) end for good. Otherwise, we will lose tons of artists to pack up and move their careers to London.
Australia can be a great music country again. We just need some help to make it happen.