125 small music venues closed last year including one of the most iconic venues ‘Moles’ in Bath which had hosted the debuting shows of acts the likes of Oasis, The Killers, Wolf Alice, The Smiths and even Ed Sheeran. The George Street venue had a capacity of 220 and had been operating for 45 years before it closed down in December 2023. According to the Guardian ‘co-owner, Tom Maddicott, spoke of the reality of the grassroots music industry, noting that it is ‘no longer economically viable and we will not be the only grassroots music venue forced to close.’

Mole’s closure highlighted the need for economic support for grassroots venues, a proposal campaigned by the MVT charity since 2018, it is only after the closure of so many venues that the proposal gained wider attention. In the report from the inquiry, which you can read here, it is said that the permanent shutdown of many spots last year not only signify an erasure of the ‘cultural and economic powerhouse’ that is the UK music industry but also ‘represent a loss of as many as 30,000 shows (16% of GMV performance opportunities last year) and 4,000 jobs.’

The report detailed not only the destruction of so many great independent music venues, but similarly the ‘precarious position’ of the live music sector as a whole. The inquiry notes that ‘as of March, the sector lost 29 festivals scheduled for this year alone to postponements, cancellations or permanent closure’ underlining the affect of pandemic on the live music scene, which has seen altogether the loss of 161 festivals since 2019.

Despite this, the report notes that new, huge venues are still finding the funding to open such as the, Co-op Live Arena, albeit, not without its controversies. The venue has cost £365million and is now the UK’s largest indoor arena. However owners of such venues believe there is ‘no problem with the UK music talent pipeline’ despite the fact that many of the artists that sell out these commissioned arenas having begun their careers in venues like Moles which are being forced to close at a ‘rate of two per week’. Co-op have also proposed an additional London venue, which will be ‘the greatest’ in the world. Many MVT supporters have called projects like these the anathema of the music industry.

So what exactly is a ticket levy? A ticket levy is a small, additional charge added to the price of a ticket for these large-scale shows. Fortunately fan shouldn’t be burdened with the cost of this voluntary ticket levy as the cost will be taken from existing ticket prices at a small-scale detriment to the venue. Dayvd explained that it would have a substantial impact on the sustainability of grassroots venues and while the levy could be statutory, the scheme could be applied quickly and efficiently if enough of the industry banded together to prop up these small but vital venues.

Following technical issues at one of Manchester’s most famous arenas, huge artists such as: Take That, Olivia Rodrigo, and Keane, have been forced to postpone or cancel their performances on extremely short notice, leaving thousands of fans angered.

Usually, the arena can hold up to 23,500 people, and these seats were expected to be filled on the 20th April, as Rick Astley was due to perform in a test concert, and was the first show since the arena’s original opening. However, according to NME, only an hour before the show began, thousands of unfortunate concert goers received the fatal email that was cancelling their tickets. The arena claimed that this was in order to reduce the venue capacity to 11,000 for safety measures, however it did not appease attendees, some of which had already began on their travels to the show.

From here, the situation only worsened as A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s show on May 1st was cancelled ten minutes prior to the doors opening. It has been revealed that a component of the air conditioning system had fell during soundcheck, resulting in the abrupt cancelling of his show. As a result of the worsening difficulties with the venue, artists including A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Take That, have managed to change their shows to the Co-op Arena’s rival venue, the AO Arena.

The arena has stated that they are hoping to re-open on May 14th, despite recently undergoing work. According to the BBC, the venue had been warned in February that construction plans were around 35 weeks behind schedule. Nonetheless, the £365m venue is confident that they will soon be re-opening, and are keeping fan’s hopes up with the announcement of shows for this summer and the rescheduling of previously cancelled shows.

However, many artists have been unable to rearrange their shows, with Olivia Rodrigo, who has currently not managed to reschedule her show, stating she is “so bummed” that her show can’t go ahead

Hopefully the venue will be up and running again soon, as many despondent fans have been left miserable and confused at the sudden change of circumstances.