Brit Awards To Go Ahead With Live Audience

The annual British music industry shindig, The Brit Awards, is all set to go ahead on May 11th and with a live audience as part of the UK government’s Covid Events Research Programme.

The event will see an audience of 4,000, including the UK’s music industry glitterati gather in the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena by London’s River Thames. The event will be presented by the comedian Jack Whitehall.

The gathered will not need to wear masks or be socially distanced. The audience members will have to provide proof of a negative lateral flow test before being admitted.

Food and drink will be provided to the Brit Awards’ VIP guests that will include the great and good along with the rotten and bad (no names no pack drill) of the highly successful British music industry along with a smattering of international stars.

The event will be monitored by government research scientists before, during and after the event with all attendees having to take another Covid test after the event.

2,500 of the 4,000 tickets will be given to key workers and family members who will have to apply for tickets.

This ‘test’ event shows how much the government sees the corporate music industry as a key economic driver and very much part of the British establishment. The government has been criticised during the ongoing pandemic for not offering support to the music community in particular the often self employed independent sector that have found it difficult to survive over the last year.

Some might criticise the government for once again putting the corporate music industry first in terms of support but it will undoubtedly be a huge step back to normality in terms of live events should this event go well.

Some of the stars up for awards and performing at the event include, Dua Lipa, Headie One, Arlo Parks and Griff.

The FA Cup Final between Leicester City and Chelsea on the 15th of May will host a crowd of 21,000 and also be part of the Covid Events Research Programme.

In a government announcement Oliver Dowden (Culture Secretary) said:

“The Brits are always a big night in the music calendar, but this year's awards will be particularly special.

"They will reunite live audiences with the best of British talent for the first time in a year, while providing a vital opportunity to see how we can get large crowds back safely as soon as possible."

The Brit Awards will be broadcast on TV to the UK and to the rest of the world with UK stars like Dua Lipa currently being amongst the biggest in the world.

At grassroots level very little and in some cases no economic support of real use has been given to performers and technicians during the devastating Covid pandemic with many of them having to look to other means to keep their heads above financial disaster and many saying that they will now not return to the industry.

A few people have worries about the health of their musical heroes taking part in the Brits. One fan in Loughborough said “I’m so worried about Dua (singer Dua Lipa) taking part, I worry that she and other stars might catch Covid and become ill, even die”

One would imagine that the stars will have been subject to testing throughout the pandemic and in the lead up to the Brits themselves and will be at little risk. There is very little chance of the whole of the British music industry being wiped out due to the Brit Awards ceremony.

Britain appears to be moving towards an opening up of society as its vaccination programme moves ahead at pace and numbers of cases and deaths due to Covid-19 continue to drop. With this opening up will come more and more opportunities for live music events which can only be good news for the music industry itself and for the morale of the population.