Despite events still scheduled as going ahead, fans and venues are despairing at a potential shutdown across the country
The
UK live
music industry is facing huge losses after tens of events have already been forced to cancel or postpone due to coronavirus. With the Who pulling an arena tour set to start next week, an industry built on getting thousands of people into the same room is beginning to struggle in the face of self-isolation.
Though the UK government is yet to introduce a nationwide ban on large-scale events,
Boris Johnson has warned that events could be cancelled in the future to reduce the strain on emergency services. In
Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon announced that all events with more than 500 people would be cancelled from Monday. Some event promoters aren’t even waiting until then – the US country music festival C2C, due to take place this weekend in Glasgow’s SSE Hydro arena as well as London’s O2 Arena, has been cancelled. Today, Radio One cancelled its annual Big Weekend festival, which was set to take place in Dundee from 22 to 24 May and feature Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris and more.