One of the hardest things of the pandemic has been the difficulty of planning. Back in March 2020, nobody really knew how long we would have to close clubs and festivals and event spaces. In the summer, certain parts of the world started reopening, then the 2nd wave came through and much of that came grinding to a halt. Across much of North America and Europe, the things you can do as a DJ are highly limited. I don’t like to think about the amount of gigs I had booked in at various points that have been cancelled across the last year! Quite apart from the financial hit, it is psychologically very hard to take the repeated disappointments and upended plans.

We enviously look on at places like New Zealand, and wonder when it will be our turn to run big concerts and festivals again.

Well – things are looking up. First things first, the incredible achievement of creating multiple vaccines this quickly means that we can say with confidence that herd immunity is an achievable goal in the forseeable future. The USA’s Dr Anthony Fauci spoke last week at a conference held by the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, and said that live entertainment’s return depended on vaccination rollout and getting between 70% to 85% of the population vaccinated. “If everything goes right, this is will occur some time in the fall of 2021, so that by the time we get to the early to mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage as well as people in the audience.”

He went on to say that mask-wearing and good ventilation may be required for some time after the return of events, and given everything we have been through, you can understand why people may urge caution, even after a population is vaccinated. Another possibility is that attendees will have to present a negative Covid test to gain entry. But he was bullish overall – “We’ll be back in the theaters — performers will be performing, audiences will be enjoying it. It will happen.”

Millions are already vaccinated across the USA and UK, with the EU gradually rolling out their vaccines too. Priority is naturally going to higher risk citizens – but it is very exciting to see the numbers of vaccinated climb rapidly. At the moment the UK is vaccinating 140 people per minute, and hope to increase that pace. The sooner people have the jabs, the sooner our lives can get back to normal.

Related to this, there have been German studies which appear to show that the risk of Covid infection in concert venues is actually not that great, if appropriate measures are in place. As reported here, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute conducted research on venues. “Concert halls and theatres are not places of infection,” Dr Raphael von Hoensbroech, director of Konzerthaus Dortmund, concluded. “The past few months have shown that politics needs a scientifically sound basis for decision-making. With our study, we want to ensure that concert halls and theatres may again admit sufficient audiences when they reopen.”

It should be noted that clubs and theatres/concert halls are quite different beasts, but it is encouraging nonetheless – if any ways exist to put on events, that can only be good news for our industry.

As we’ve seen with the very creation of the vaccines, things can move a lot faster than expected when there is enough economic and social motivation.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that nothing is promised – but I wouldn’t be completely shocked if things start to come back a bit earlier than Fauci is saying, even if on a reduced scale – humans are a social animal, and people need to socialise and let off steam. Reduced capacity, socially-distanced events could even be happening by Spring/Summer – who knows?

Its so important to have light at the end of the tunnel, to feel like positive progress is being made, and to have things to look forward to. And finally we have this! I’m going to ramp up my livestreaming and Mixcloud use with an eye on hopefully picking up bookings later in the year…

In the meantime, make sure you stay on top of musical trends and ready for action by downloading the best tracks at the Heavy Hits pool, and go follow me at Instagram!