'The day the (live) music died'

Anyone in the UK, old enough to remember walking into a pub to the sound of live music, will have noticed that 'pub rock' or any live music in pubs, is in relatively short supply these days.

Government legislation, passed in 2003, has all but barred live music in small venues, likes pubs, as it is believed to be a catalyst for teen violence. Unlike football of course, and needless to say, there is no mention of the weekend teeny bloodbaths that occur in many of our town and city centre night clubs.

Censorship of expression through music???

The legislation is under review, but the government has said that it will be at least another year, before it's re-addressed.

For me this is more than just nostalgia. Back 'in the day' there used to be at least four pubs in our town that had live music at weekends. Usually local rock or punk bands. Yes, there would occassionally be trouble, but those very pubs are plagued, even more so, by trouble these days. We used to have a three day festival at our local arts centre. The band I was in, played there many times. I also saw the likes of Ian Dury, Courtney Pine, John Martyn, The Brand New Heavies and Lamb there. The council didn't like it, and deemed it 'innapropriate' for the image of the town, and replaced it with a one day free event, featuring armies of drummers in face paint and an 'eco-park' for kids to play in. Gone were the stalls selling bongs, lava lamps, hemp shirts and jewellry, and in their place, a tent for free Chlomydia testing (excuse my speeling), an exhibition of all the great work our local police had done, and advice on how to get the most from organic vegetables. The event now wreaks of Nulabour political correctness and cultural dumbing down.

Anyway, it occurs to me where live music is promoted, encouraged and fascilitated, there is the serious danger that a 'bohemian' culture could emerge. All governments hate this kind of thing. It scares them, and harks back to the days when students were politicised, and musicians sung about the issues of the day. People protested and campaigned, and on occassion forced change. It seems to me that our Stalinist government is anxious to block this. It started under the previous government, when they brought in the criminal justice bill, to curb the rave scene in the 90's.

Do I sound hysterical? Maybe, to some. But think about it, if the legislation were really about teen violence, then why are not shutting down nightclubs, or banning the televising of football matches? The problem is not music. The problem is not sport. The problem is not even booze. The problem is the f***ing morons, who have been raised to address every problem they encounter with violence. Legislate against that at it's source, and stop trying to silence musical expression, in whatever form it should take; rock, rap, folk..

Rant over. I'm going to the pub to kick the crap out of someone!

Thats good to know. There is also a great pub in Newcastle, called 'Trillians' which has live rock and metal acts regularly, and an all rock AND PROG!! jukebox.

My grind is that 'back in the day' many town centre pubs would have live music nights. That no longer happens without a very lengthy document being filled out - a risk assessment - and a temporary music license applied for, the belief being that live music is synonomous with violence. Most establishments therefore just dont bother these days.

BTW, if you're ever in Newcastle check out their premier tribute act 'Bon Geordie' They're a real hoot! Pretty good too..

Edited by Blacksword - July 18 2009 at 08:21

Finnforest wrote: You're right Blacksword, you can't legislate common sense it seems.  I think here the smoking bans have succeeded in diminishing the nightlife too.  I have several friends who will no longer go to the clubs.  Instead, they'll hang out with other friends at someone's house, where they can enjoy a smoke with their drinks.   I've stopped live shows for one simple reason....after many hundreds of concerts and gigs, I simply wish to preserver what little hearing I have left.  I could where ear plugs yes, but that kind of wrecks the experience for me.

The smoking ban doesn't help, I agree. I've always been in two minds about that law. When it came in I had given up, but I still couldn't see how it was going to really work. Many pubs in the UK have closed, they say, as a result of that ban.

Anyway, I stand by my claim that the live music legislation is really about trying to destroy a culture of young people congregating and getting up to no good. By 'no good' I dont mean violence, I mean expressing themslves and any radical ideas they may have through music reaching a young audience, as has happnede in the past. You may think I'm insanely paranoid, but think about it from the governments point of view. What better way to stop this happeneing than by either making it illegal, or making it very difficult or expensive to stage.

That's rather odd.  The sports club/live music venue I could walk to from home has closed recently.  The last live music at a small place that I experienced was at a hotel bar in Florida.  They only did cover tunes.  Nothing of interest in particular except for a Santana and then it was one of those overplayed tunes. 

But yeah, small venues are the best way to experience an artist and those opportunities are fading away in my area.

So many things wrong here, I don't even know where to start. Maybe with the hilariously racist, old, humbug, dickish, please-die-now, dipsh*ts in that government. And yep, I think that covers it.

Blacksword wrote: Government legislation, passed in 2003, has all but barred live music in small venues, likes pubs, as it is believed to be a catalyst for teen violence. Unlike football of course, and needless to say, there is no mention of the weekend teeny bloodbaths that occur in many of our town and city centre night clubs.

Exactly. Romford is full of nightclubs and Saturday night there is basically a war zone. I've been to loads of pub gigs and can't remember much violence at all (apart from the night our lead singer got knocked out by his brother-in-law).