NME to voice their concerns over the government’s “pointless” and “bonkers” support package to aid them through the Omicron COVID crisis.In the week since Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new restrictions for England due to a rise in cases of the Omicron variant (in measures dubbed ‘Plan B’), losses came to over £2million.
86 per cent of grassroots music venues reported negative impacts, and 61 per cent were forced to cancel at least one event due to touring party members testing positive for COVID, functions being cancelled by organisers or poor ticket sales.Overall, attendance at shows at grassroots venues has dropped by 23 per cent (but up to 40 per cent across live music in general) with over 140,000 ‘no shows’ from ticket holders.