RAAC is a lightweight building material that was utilised between the 1950’s and the 1990’s in the UK and has been the reason behind the controversial recent closures of schools across the nation.

Upon review, the government has recently revised the guidance on the material, regarding it to be dangerous and at risk of collapse. Around 150 schools have been forced to close, either fully or partly. The material has also affected universities, airports as well as hospitals just to name a few.

The affected venues are:

Guildhill, Preston

The Orchard, Dartford

Dixon Studio, Westcliff-on-Sea

The Forum Theatre, Stockport

Royal and Derngate, Northampton

The Sands Centre, Carlisle

Core Theatre, Solihull

The Brunton, Musselburgh

YMCA Theatre, Scarborough

St David’s Hall, Cardiff

These venues have been forced to cancel their entire calendar for September and it is currently unknown when the venues will be allowed to reopen for events again. Many local councils are making sure the likes of schools and hospitals are a priority in terms of reopening therefore it could possibly be a long time before some of these music venues and theaters are able to open.

This will no doubt be a massive blow for the venues as the live entertainment industry is still trying to financially recover from the losses made as a result of the COVID pandemic in 2020.

Preston’s Guildhall has been closed since 2019 but was due to re-open in November for the Preston Weekender music festival. The festival is still scheduled to go ahead but fresh questions are now being raised over the safety of the venue.

Preston City Council has said in a statement: “The venues themselves are not currently in use, but we have been working inside both on a range of safety and associated works. A small number of future events were planned for this year, and we are in discussion with the organisers about these.”

A spokesperson for the venue has also stated in an interview with IQ: “We are taking a cautious and ‘safety first’ approach by securing the Grand Hall and Charter Theatre auditoria, until specialist consultant structural engineers can carry out a more detailed inspection. Unfortunately, we understand that this may take some time, as the experts required to carry out this very particular type of work are naturally prioritising school inspections.”

Proud to announce our partnership with @thepioneerclub and @HeadlinerHub to try and make more things happen in St Albans, and bring more music to the local community.

We’re looking for your help. Head to https://t.co/HME5g5d9hS for more info on how to be involved.
X pic.twitter.com/9YSnjkKgkr

— ENTER SHIKARI (@ENTERSHIKARI) August 16, 2023

Enter Shikari have firmly planted themselves as one of Britain’s most successful and influential bands over the past few years. The band’s latest studio effort, A Kiss For The Whole World, has even granted the group their first ever number one album and garnered both critical and popular praise. On the back of what has been considerable success, the band have also found themselves at the forefront of important issues facing society and the planet today.

Enter Shikari features notable lyrical content ranging from the political to climate change and has set them apart from their peers in many ways. The band are not just content to speak on social issues either, preferring to take action on what they believe in. Indeed, the band recorded A Kiss For The Whole World using only solar power.

Now, together with St. Albans based media platform Headliner Spacers, the band have now turned their attentions to local site The Pioneer-a venue that helped the band get their start on the music scene. The grassroots venue played a major role for the band upon their formation in the early 2000s, with Enter Shikari promoting many of their earliest performances at the venue. Bring Me The Horizon and Gallows can also count themselves as alumni of The Pioneer.

In addition to music, the venue also features the UK’s oldest indoor skate park. And Enter Shikari are raising funds to not only save The Pioneer but also to make it a premier venue for touring artists as well as a cultural and creative hub complete with rehearsal spaces and recording studio. Thus far, the band have raffled frontman Rou Reynold’s Kaoss Pad, Chris Batten’s bass guitar and guitarist Rory Clewlow’s Gibson SG in order to raise the required funds to take The Pioneer back to its lofty position within the scene.

Surviving multiple threats to its existence, @thepioneerclub in St Albans continues to survive thanks to vital funding from @ENTERSHIKARI. Headliner reviews the venue and @bluehouruk_‘s recent headline gig #livemusic #stalbans #livemusicvenue https://t.co/FbQOQJDapH

— Headliner (@HeadlinerHub) June 18, 2022

Headline Spacers has been leading the renovation of the venue with the platform overseeing the construction of the new studio and bar-a result of a partnership with Signature Brew. The platform will begin on the rehearsal space next as well as an education centre for aspiring musicians, crew members and technicians.

Enter Shikari have also released a new T-shirt with proceeds going to The Pioneer. The band have explained that each shirt that is sold will count as one entry to the raffle. Further information about the raffle and T-shirt sales can be found here.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show Javid told BBC News. “I’m pleased to say we will not be going ahead, we shouldn’t be doing things for the sake of it. I’ve never liked the idea of saying to people you must show your papers or something to do what is just an everyday activity, but we were right to properly look at it. We’ve looked at it properly and, whilst we should keep it in reserve as a potential option, I’m pleased to say that we will not be going ahead with plans for vaccine passports.”

If the scheme was to go ahead, members of the public would have been required to show proof that they had received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine in order to gain entry to any clubs and other crowded events. It would seem most are in support of this change of plans.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey described the plan as “divisive, unworkable and expensive,” and said that his party would have opposed them had they gone ahead. Labour had also criticised the plans as “unworkable”.

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) said the plans could have crippled the industry and might have seen nightclubs face discrimination cases. The CEO Michael Kill commenting on the new development stated: “Following an intense political and public campaign by the NTIA, its members and wider industry supporters, we welcome the comments from the health secretary this morning regarding the government’s decision to scrap the planned mandate of COVID passports from the end of September.”

He continued “We hope that businesses will now be able to plan for the future with some degree of certainty, regain confidence from customers and the workforce and start to rebuild a sector that has consistently been at the sharp end of this pandemic.”

Mark Davyd, the CEO of Music Venue Trust, which represents hundreds of grassroots music venues throughout the UK, also shared a statement on the government’s scrapping the vaccine passport scheme.

“The double vaccine certification programme proposed by the government contained a number of challenges around deliverability, practicality, equality and potential discrimination,” Davyd said. “MVT has been describing those problems to Ministers and departments for the last two months, and we therefore welcome the decision to not move forward with this policy.

Davyd concluded his statement that despite not having to need for a vaccine passport “everyone in the live music community to please take a test before attending an event, a personal approach to risk mitigation that is highly effective and makes a real difference to the safety of gigs”.

However, despite the change of heart, the Scottish government announced on Friday (September 10) that from October 1 it will bring in a vaccine passport. Also in Wales, ministers will decide this week if vaccine passports should be used to gain entry to some events.

UK Music, which is the umbrella organisation that represents all aspects of the music industry from artists and record labels to the live music sector, has reported the hit to the industry. Last year it reported an estimated worth of £5.8 billion towards the UK economy, a growth of 11% from the year before. In its November annual check, it’s likely to plummet to £3 billion net worth. “UK Music measures the industry’s contribution as gross value added, or GVA, which also includes British music exported overseas, such as tours.”

.@UK_Music made the plea as it published its annual ‘Music By Numbers’ report today https://t.co/bEkFG043zF

— NME (@NME) November 18, 2020

The chief executive of UK Music Jamie Njoku-Goodwin has said the pandemic has delt a “catastrophic blow” to the music industry. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of musicians of the over 200,000 musicians employed in the industry will be at risk of losing their jobs as the pandemic continues to spread and damage us as second waves are hitting the world as we race to get a vaccine ready and disrupted to everyone.

Its key to understand that the music industry isn’t just a job, income, or work place for many people. the industry is responsible for a lot of income for the country. “Our music industry is a key national asset,” said Njoku-Goodwin. “As this report shows, it contributes £5.8bn a year to the economy, generates £2.9bn in exports and supports almost 200,000 jobs. The UK music industry was a vibrant, fast-growing and commercially successful sector before the pandemic hit.”

following on from the ghastly news from the industry UK Music has also found that musicians will likely lose up to 65% of their annual income. Even with the SEISS (Self-Employed Income Support Scheme) aiding a number of the music industry it doesn’t even come close to the amount that would be normally earned in a year for many musicians as it hits less than that of the furlough support scheme for normal workers in regular jobs.

It is sad to see that one of the hardest industries will be our music industry. What was a record high last year which saw the industry grow leaps and bounds with an increase of a record £1.3 billion has now seen such a terrible turnaround. It was predicted that this year was going to follow on and grow like last year however it’s now reported: “a slump of as much as 85%, with live music’s GVA expected to plummet to about £300m as touring halts and social distancing keeps most venues shut.”