The local live music gig scene is in trouble, venue owners and musicians have warned.

The pandemic, recent rises in inflation and closure of local music venues such as the Dun Cow pub near Clayton Road, have forced many musicians to cancel or curtail their live performing activities.

“People renewed their enthusiasm for live music after Covid-19,” said Steven Milne, from Scottish band The Little Kicks, who will play a gig in Jesmond this evening (November 19th). “It was only when they were restricted because of the pandemic that people realised how much they were missing out on,” he told JesmondLocal.

“The pandemic brought everything to a halt, we couldn’t try to do anything creative and it made us have to wait.”

Milne added: “2022 is still an uncertain year, but we’re hopeful that things will turn out well.”

Many bands had to reschedule gigs several times, due to the uncertainty of Covid-19 policies, which also led to slow ticket sales. “People will now buy tickets at the last minute to reduce the risk of gig cancellations,” said Anthony Thompson, who manages Bobiks, a venue on Jesmond Road. Thompson is also the managing director of Notion Music Recordings.

Although Covid-19 restrictions have now been lifted, “new trouble is on the horizon,” warns Thompson. With UK inflation at a 40-year high of 11.1%, Jesmond’s live music scene is now suffering a double whammy.

“Many small venues closed down, small artists had no place to perform and their touring revenues were reduced to almost nothing for a period of time,” Thompson said, “It also caused some people to leave the industry.”

While the threat of Covid-19 has receded, audience expectations for venue safety remain the same. Because of this, “the cost of operating the venue is higher than before,” Thompson added.

Thompson said that the pub still needs to pay the costs of lighting, air conditioning and sound engineers to meet professional standards. “We really don’t want to pay artists less than they deserve, but it’s an economics problem and if there’s less revenue, it means the only thing that can happen is that ticket prices will increase,” he said.

Little Kicks’ Milne also agreed that the difficulties of increased costs cannot be ignored, with some bands not making money for two years due to the pandemic. They are now trying to “maximise the revenue streams of consolidated tickets” to prevent the loss of costs.

Yet pushing up ticket prices has an impact on gig-goers. “Tickets are much more expensive than before,” says Zara McGregor, a 21-year-old bar worker living in Newcastle.

“Although we can afford it, the chances of going to a gig have decreased,” she said. “In my opinion, inflation has had a much bigger impact than the pandemic, and it is the biggest crisis facing live music at the moment.”

To learn more about upcoming gigs at Bobiks, click here.