PROG OUT TO HELP OUT
A Prog reader suggests how we could all help the live scene return to action.
Over the past year we have all become aware of the very necessary jobs that are taken for granted. In the prog world it’s the behind-the-scenes people who make stage shows work. While I don’t go to concerts for my own reasons, I do understand that people want to experience those sights, sounds – yes, and sometimes even smells.
It’s on the tour circuit that band members find whether they can get on with each other or not. New stuff can be tried out in front of a live audience for immediate feedback. Musicians often talk about the real-time relationship with their audience – some songs work, others just don’t. A live performance can sort out which ones do, and whether the band really needs a 15-minute bassoon solo after all.
The future of prog depends on the live scene. While lockdown support schemes have helped some businesses, having volunteered at a local independent theatre, I know how precarious the finances can be even when there’s no pandemic. While the UK government has promised £400m for the arts, government borrowing has to be paid back – interest rates will go up and the tax burden falls on the general population to pay small amounts individually, rather than a small number of very rich to pay lots.
There are some very well-off musicians, entrepreneurs, managers, etc. who wouldn’t miss a million or two. Some are known to have helped, others like to make charitable donations on the quiet, while there are almost certainly those who don’t.
Instead of writing and singing about one’s politics at this moment, acting on one’s politics would help. There are people out there who need food on the table, the contemporary equivalent of a coin in the meter, shoes on feet – not good words, no matter how good the accompanying tunes might be.
In such an emergency, how do we encourage those who have money to part with it in favour of those who don’t? Those who are able could consider doing their own Captain Tom thing and undertake a fundraising task for their local venues. Another idea is that when you see your prog hero doing something to offer assistance, be encouraging. Like, share and comment on their efforts, so that more people will feel that it’s a worthwhile thing to do.
More ambitiously, just like Great Ormond St Hospital benefits from the profits of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, maybe the income, or some of it, from one of those ever-selling double concept albums could be diverted to a trust fund? Perhaps some artists could think about their legacy after their death, like Barrie did?
Now’s the time for the people who care to stand up and be counted, even if we go red-faced with embarrassment (sorry!) and sit down again. Every little helps!
Got an opinion on the matter that you’d like to share? Please email us at: prog@futurenet.com. Opinions expressed in this column aren’t necessarily those of the magazine.