Let the music play - even if it’s from a distance

The pandemic has hit many hard, but few sectors have been worse affected than the live music industry.

Social distancing is far from compatible with crowds pressed against the stage at gigs or sweaty bodies mingling on nightclub dance floors.

The near impossibility of returning to that particular normal has left the entire sector reeling.

Some of our best-loved live music venues are staring into the abyss, with thousands of jobs linked to the live events industry also at risk.

Which is why it is so exciting to see live music returning to Mote Park over the bank holiday weekend - albeit with a dash of ‘new normal’ to ensure the show goes on, safely. Despite less-than-ideal weather, music fans descended on the park for three nights of fun as the county town played host to one of the first sociallydistanced festivals.

Some of the spontaneity may have been lost amid the various restrictions imposed to keep revellers safe, but for those who have been craving a big night out since the order to stay in back in March, it will have been a joy nonetheless. We are all wanting a return to some sort of normal, and rightly so.

But this can not come at the cost of plunging our communities back into lockdown if complacency allows the virus to regain the upper hand.

Scenes at a party organised by a West Malling pub showed how not to do it. If social distancing goes out the window, and masks are seen as optional at close quarters, then there is a risk we could go backwards in this battle.

The show must go on - but we all have a part to play in making the performance a success.