TRNSMT boss warns music venues could go under - even with social distancing rules relaxed

The First Minister announced yesterday that the two-meter rule will eventually be reduced to one-meter for pubs and restaurants in the Scottish Government's phase three of lockdown lifting plans.

TRNSMT boss Geoff Ellis has warned that even with this rule being relaxed, music venues are still at risk of collapse.

READ MORE: TRNSMT promoter DF Concerts warns gigs are unlikely to go ahead without vaccine

He warned that the city's SSE Hydro will only be able to accommodate less than a third of its capacity with social distancing in place.

Speaking with BBC Scotland, he said: "If you go to a show at the SSE Hydro, you pay money for your ticket to see a fantastic show with lots of dancers, lights and effects, big screens.

"With one-metre social distancing none of that can happen because you'd have 30 percent of the audience spread over the whole venue, but there'd be no money to put on the show."

He warned that smaller music venues across Scotland are also at risk as they are a "lifeblood" for the industry.

He added: "Certainly on the venue front, many are saying that they will go under, particularly the small venues which are the lifeblood of the industry.

"That's where the Lewis Capaldis, the Paolo Nutinis, the Biffy Clyros all cut their teeth at venues like King Tut's and the equivalent kind of venues throughout the UK."

READ MORE: Glasgow music venues call on UK Government for £50m support package amid financial concerns due to pandmic

Ellis said the annual TRNSMT festival boosts the Glasgow economy by £10 million.

This year's event has been cancelled with acts carried over to 2021.

Ellis said: "Approximately 85 per-cent of the revenue from a concert goes towards putting that concert on - be it stewards, medical staff, the bands on the stage, the dancers on a Kylie Minogue show etc."

"There's one option that we've been presenting which is a full capacity plan which Festival Republic has come up with, which ties in access to tickets to testing for Covid-19.

"We got a good hearing from the Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop about that but obviously there needs to be a lot of work done on that and a lot of involvement of them and the scientific kind of brains.

"But that is one potential opportunity that might encourage people to get tested and that might open up sports and music to fans."

It comes after 12 city music venues called on the UK Government to supply them with a £50 million support package amid financial concerns sparked by the coronavirus crisis. 

They were mong 560 across the UK to sign an open letter, following Music Venue Trust's statement that warned up to 90 per cent of grassroots music venues could be lost if the funding is not put in place. 

At the Scottish Government's media briefing yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon expressed "huge sympathy" for musicians and the arts generally during the crisis.

She said: "Fiona Hyslop and I made some comments about this last week about the fundamental importance of arts and culture, not just to the economy but to our wellbeing as a country and our sense of who we are as a nation.

"We want to make sure we will respond to the open letter once we get a proper chance to consider the requests of the Scottish Government that we respond to that fully.

"And we will also support musicians and venues in the requests as soon as we think they're reasonable, which I'm sure they are to the UK Government as part of our discussions with them.

"On the issue of dates for opening of venues, we will give provisional dates as quickly as possible but I come back to the point I've made all along - we have to do this safely.

"And that means we have to consider all of the relevant information before we get to these positions but I want to see venues just as I want to see beauty parlours and other parts of the economy thriving again just as quickly as possible."