If you are in a band, put on gigs, run a music venue, or just love going to gigs, you’ll probably be having a hard time at the moment!
Us Scary Clown Presents… team certainly are – we’ve had to cancel our first gig EVER, and then the same day cancel a second.
It’s certainly not a nice feeling, but we aren’t alone. I know the team behind the 2020 Manchester Punk Festival must be in bits right now – not only have hey put in a ton of effort which they’ve had to cancel, but they bought a ton of merch and have invested a lot of their own dosh which will mostly be lost. I’m one of a number of voices suggesting we refuse a ticket refund, and also buy some of their merch to take it off their hands and reduce their loses – after all, a t-shirt is a t-shirt right? We can wear em with pride showing we are part of a great scene #unity
We had to cancel our Janus Stark gig on 3rd April – not that the venue asked us to, but because we feel it’s the only responsible action we could take. There will be future gigs, and right now keeping people safe and healthy is just more important than a show. If we catch coronavirus it might be mild or bearable, but we could then pass it on to someone more vulnerable, and we couldn’t have that on our conscience.
We still plan to be able to put on our Skate-aid 7 gig – that’s 20th June so hopefully after the peak and the self-isolation, but we’ll obviously take a decision closer to the time. Any tickets purchased will be refunded if we do cancel (fingers crossed we won’t as it’s an amazing line-up!).
So there will be more gigs cancelled in the coming month or two – and it will be disappointing, but that’s a small price to pay. Look after each other – don’t be a dick and buy all the toilet roll, and we’ll see you at the bar after this has all blown over!
p.s. thanks to Mark Richards for the amazing photo above – it’s one of the gigs I’ve helped put on as part of the Scary Clown Presents DIY Punk collective – and it’s the absolutely amazing The Crippens on stage. I used to love Dr. and The Crippens when I was but a 18 year old back in the day – they are still fantastic!
