Are there any hotels that market themselves on using purely renewable energy? Feels like a solar powered hotel could end up being cheaper?
Loads of the new build hotels were also developed off the back of low interest rates by investors who assumed that land values would keep rising and borrowing costs would stay low.
Itās not quite on the same scale as chain pubs, where the companies were less interested in running pubs and more interested in acquiring property, but itās a similar approach.
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that said, some of my āold gigā experiences in Manchester havenāt played out that way longer term. Went to see Phoebe Bridgers at Gorilla in Manchester in 2018 which is 500 capacity and it was FULL of middle-aged men. Which is not her core audience any more, and certainly not the core audience of BoyGenius. Also saw Lucy Dacus play to a room of middle-aged men at Gullivers in 2018 (100 capacity)ā¦ which to me points to a way of discovering and getting into music for younger people which doesnāt involve slogging round small and mid-sized venues to get into things.
Also saw Mitski at Gorilla in 2018 (what a year 2018 was!!) play to the same middle-aged men crowd - and she has subsequently also shifted to a younger audience as sheās got more popular.
I donāt know what this means./
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This is a crucial point, especially down here in Plymouth. When I moved here a decade ago there were several promoters who would put on the kind of DIY shows that I put on. I.e. stuff that isnāt really tied to genre as much as the punk/metal/dance scene types of shows which seem to do consistently well. Since covid, Iām basically the only person doing these kind of shows with any regularity (and I can only manage, like, 4 per year). Weāre well stocked for venues though.
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Is it also worth noting how ridicuously expensive arena shows are now for major artists? Like I dont think its inconceivable that acts like Taylor Swift are cannibalising the indie scenes as people need to literally spend 2 months worth of disposable income to see her live with their family
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Promoting at the DIY end is a pretty thankless game tbh. Youāre expected to put in all your labour for free and lose money as much as anything. The industry has long taken those people for granted and Iām not surprised there arenāt as many doing them now.
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In my experiences:
- Big shows still doing well.
- Gigs Venue chain owned by multimillionaire, that has a huge social media reach - doing well and dangerously oversold on occasion.
- Small gigs by promotoers with much less reach/coverage (usually at venues which arent as popular) - undersold.
Costs:
Tickets - a bit all over the place
Travel - 
Hotels - 
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Maybe. Iām not convinced how many of those people would go to multiple x smaller instead. Like, my sister dropped a lot of money to go and see The Weeknd at the Olympic Stadium back in the summer. But sheās not someone who wouldāve otherwise spent that money going to even large theatre shows as an alternative.
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Well yeah of course there are non routine gig goers dropping a fuck tonne of cash to go to swift as well but a quick glance tells me plenty of parents here are doing the same
in my experience, itās big gigs that sell out in a microsecond, small gigs that just never sell. barely anything in the middle anymore. have practically given up playing anywhere outside of yorkshire as it just costs too much, and no-one willing to give it a punt anyway, so might as well just stay in my lane.
playing two gigs this week: a small bar in todmorden, and upstairs at my local bottle shop. am having to promote both myself, so excited, but a wee bit scared in all honesty. there are a few glimmers of hope with regards to promoters. a lot of them from āback in the dayā all stopped, but there are a few more sprouting up here and there. a lot of it is still such a gamble though.
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The fucking hotels man. What a jokeshop. Only reason Iām able to stay in Limerick for Protomartyr in a few weeks is because a pal owns a gaff near the city centre. Wouldnāt be going otherwise.
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When hotels were reasonably priced weād go down to Dublin more often, sometimes for a couple of days if there were a few good gigs on consecutive nights.
Between the price of hotels now and the laughable state of public transport I just drive down and back now. But have scaled back on how many times Iām down. Basically has to be one of our joint top faves or a āholy shit, I cant believe theyre playing!ā thing.
Almost exactly the same for us. Drove to Pulp during the summer as hotels were fucked. Paid through the fucking nose for a shoebox of a room in Galway so we could see Pavement. At least Wilco played here.
Itād need to be someone massive to get my wife to pay that kind of money again. Next on the horizon for us is the Altered Hours in Cork. At least we can get the bus in for that!
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Aye we are limiting Dublin trips to āa fewā a year as they are always so dear and have to take time off work, make arrangements etc.
Wilco doing a proper Irish tour was very welcome - a shame more dont do it.
Our next Dub show isnt until Pixies next year and even then its because theyre doing the 2 records in full so its a bit more special.
But for real - festivals - gigs - something I once enjoyed immensely completely out of reach for me more often than not - its depressing being priced out of shit that made up a huge part of my social identity
Feels like my personality is being erased on a day to day basis - cant get enthused about music anymore as it always seems to come with heavy caveats for me
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Yeah absolutely this. I got massively down last week when I didnāt get a low-income Los Camp ticket and realised that Iāll probably never be able to afford to go to a gig again, especially once travel and accommodation is factored in too. Used to be a big part of my life.
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Gigs pretty much always sell out in the Netherlands, more bands should come here. Always a full (albeit stony faced and silent) crowd for support acts too
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Sounds fantastic
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Im fortunate in that I live in a city with loads of smaller gigs and dont need to pay for accomedation but the price of drinks/tickets/taxis if I want to stay out past 11 is too much for me. Also as much as I enjoy the indie spirit of smallelr gigs I often dont enjoy the venues very much - tend to be uncomfortably small with bad sound systems
And its a me issue I really struggle to stay focused at gigs without a few beers so thats like an extra Ā£12 - Ā£15 on top of the ticket price for 2 beers
So a Ā£10 ticket for a SMALL local show Ā£18 for the taxi Ā£12 for 2 drinks is a devastating Ā£40 - and lets be real Iāll want more than 2 beers for my sole night out - itāll be Ā£50 - Ā£60 if i had the audacity to buy tickets for a band I actually know
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Yep.
Public transport is pure shite to get into the city from here. Nightbuses are non existant. Taxis donāt want to drive here and if they do its Ā£20 fo a sub 5 mile trip.
i end up driving so donāt drink but even then Iām paying Ā£Ā£Ā£ to drink coca cola as they take the piss with that.