reportage
Live music slowly coming back to life
I
t’s already been 15 months (not that I’m counting). All the music shows were cancelled when corona had hit. That wasn’t easy for the artists, but definitely, it hasn’t been easier for the fans. Waiting for the concerts even for years, buying the tickets in advance (sometimes with a bit of good luck because there are too many willing people to go to the concert), and being in a live show is something that makes music fans alive. “As a young adult and volunteer, I really missed going to concerts and live events in the past year and a half. Few times I even caught myself daydreaming about crowded and loud area, I go to the toilet and after that I can’t found my friends. Classic scenario”, says Maria, who also is a volunteer in some music events. As she is saying, it took her a pandemic to realize that organizing these things isn’t just helping her grow as a person and build team-working skills. Still, also it feels good because of helping
4 - VOICES
Spending time without friends, not going out to favorite places, and not enjoying life to the fullest. Not only that, people were missing during the pandemic: playing music live had to stop. After spending a long time within the four walls and listening to performers only on electronic devices, the sun is slowly starting to come out, and concerts are on the way.
the community and making everyone feel good during the concert.
they don’t give the same feeling as the live concerts.
Fans were in kind of better position than artists – they didn’t lose a job and didn’t have to come up with other solutions to earn money (at least for that part of their life). Of course, money wasn’t the only thing that artists lost during the lockdown.
A growing number of vaccinated people are showing light at the end of the tunnel. The biggest festivals are scheduling the dates in the next year. Some artists have already sold the tickets for this year. But mostly, there is an opportunity for musicians who can perform in front of a smaller audience. Srdjan Vucic, a musician in one of the local bands, shares his thoughts about live music being back in Skopje.
“Before the pandemic, we were throwing gigs, and having so much fun, and it never felt like work. When it stopped, it was devastating: the fact that you can’t perform live for this huge period of time”, shares Behar, a musician. The worst is that many events are not covered by insurance; so smaller agencies in particular are threatened with bankruptcy. To recompensate losses, musicians started livestreaming events that do not require heavy productions and can be easily streamed from an empty room. Even though they are high volume for the audience, it generates low incomes for creators. Obviously,
“Playing music live is not my main job. I don’t play that much, but still, I missed the feeling when you play live in front of the audience. Some people do it 3-4 times a week. When corona had hit, it was bad for me, but I think not as bad as for other people. After these several weeks, people seem to have more energy. Maybe they even appreciate it more because they didn’t have a chance to attend these kinds of events for a long time.”
