"Nervous shows in a church hall or a room over a pub"

Check out this disturbing piece about licensing laws and band gigs here in the UK.

I have to say I haven't come across any problems from this direction yet but I'd be interested in hearing from any acts who have.

Also, whether it's an issue outside the UK now?

Sound of silence

I couldn't agree more with that final paragraph:


"All the great artists, whether stadium-filling behemoths or sensitive folk singers, began with nervous shows in a church hall or a room over a pub. Licensing them will stifle much of the music of the next generation – and sometimes carries a whiff of racism. Small venues are the seedbed in which new talent is nurtured. They must be protected from bumptious planners who heedlessly tread on these new flowers in their anxiety to hammer up notices telling us all that we must not walk on the grass".

Its an outrage but sadly, fairly typical behaviour from our powers that be