Some VERY good news at last - live music back by the Spring?

[walshy]

Our first indoor gig and it was pretty well done. 150 tickets, table service and loud music. For a gig with restrictions it was pretty good! 2 plus hours and I was canny knackered, a bit outta practice 😂 Roll on Friday and Sat this week 🤞

[mep]

Just had 2 rehearsals in a row. Ran through a set each time. Only a few songs had to be played more than once and we were pleasantly surprised how we got back into it after 15 months. Looking forward to our 1st gigs on Saturday which will have restrictions in place.

[Al Krow]

On 22/01/2021 at 11:54, Phil Starr said:

...Our government policy of trying to keep the economy going by managing an 'acceptable' death rate has failed as it always would have and has merely prolonged the emergency and led to an increased death rate. to be fair most of the 'Western' countries have followed the same policies with similar results. Eastern and Australasian countries have made different decisions with better outcomes. It finally seems that with hospitals on their knees and death rates soaring that governments in Europe including our own are starting to 'get' it...

On 22/01/2021 at 12:06, Al Krow said:

Key strategy adopted by Australia has been to massively stop travel into Australia to prevent importing Covid...

Sadly Australian approach not looking so good anymore with 80% of the country back in lockdown.

[Al Krow]

I didn't manage to make it to Colchester over the weekend, but this lot had a great evening from all reports!

[mep]

Had our first gig on Saturday at our favourite regular pub. A quieter than usual affair with restrictions in place. Good to get out and play again. We did pretty well considering. We have a booking in another regular, but much smaller, pub in early July which is still going ahead. We don't know how it's going to be managed as there is very little room around the 'stage' area. Bands will now be paid by the money from passing a hat around. The landlord has apparently been up country and this is how it's now done. Easy win for him and a gamble for us. We have cancelled our July gig and are not sure about the rest.

[Phil Starr]

3 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Sadly Australian approach not looking so good anymore with 80% of the country back in lockdown.

Yesterday Australia had 25 new cases which they see as a major outbreak worth controlling. the UK has 20,479 confirmed new cases. Over the past year we have been in full lockdown (but poorly done) for a lot longer than they have and for most of the time for example have had a country completely untouched by Covid, crucially for basschatters we would all have still been able to gig. In fact countries who have seriously followed an elimination policy have lost far fewer days have had their liberties less curtailed and their economies more or less unaffected.

If they get this lock down right then next week they will have fewer than 25 infections and be able shortly to go back to normal (not new normal) living. We are seeing the infections double every few days so in just over a week expect 40,000 new infections, then 80,000 until we are forced once again to go into what may be more months of lockdown. The trick is to react quickly with the aim of elimination, you won't keep the whole world out but you limit the damage and it's far easier to contain an outbreak of 25 people ant their contacts than 20,000+. You can track and trace a few thousand people a day but we've never managed to get the numbers low enough for track and trace to work.  

If only we too lived on an island

Edited June 29, 2021 by Phil Starr

[Al Krow]

You can't keep locking down until every last job is destroyed. Covid is not even a top 20 cause of death in the UK currently. 

[krispn]

Some great research and evidence for the prophylactic use of Ivermectin but no one really want to authorise its use for Covid. Other countries have been successful using it in some instances when people showed up for a covid test and got a positive they’ve been sent home with Ivermectin and the impact it’s having is astonishing. How a drug with a 40 ye safety record, a Nobel prize and over 40 billion doses administered can’t be considered is a tad concerning if cases continue to rise.

 Check out the flccc website for more up to date into. I know there are some FOI requests into the Scottish Gov to find out why it’s being declined use in this instance. 

Edited June 29, 2021 by krispn

[machinehead]

1 hour ago, krispn said:

Some great research and evidence for the prophylactic use of Ivermectin but no one really want to authorise its use for Covid. Other countries have been successful using it in some instances when people showed up for a covid test and got a positive they’ve been sent home with Ivermectin and the impact it’s having is astonishing. How a drug with a 40 ye safety record, a Nobel prize and over 40 billion doses administered can’t be considered is a tad concerning if cases continue to rise.

 Check out the flccc website for more up to date into. I know there are some FOI requests into the Scottish Gov to find out why it’s being declined use in this instance. 

There isn't such a huge profit from Ivermectin as there is from vaccines...

Frank.

[krispn]

Very Frank! 

[Phil Starr]

7 hours ago, Al Krow said:

You can't keep locking down until every last job is destroyed. Covid is not even a top 20 cause of death in the UK currently. 

No, but it is the currently fastest growing disease because once again we have failed to sufficiently control it. Given a few more weeks of inaction it will be back at the top, clogging up hospitals again. This constant stop start is destroying more jobs than actual proper hygiene measures would. There's a new study reported in this weeks New Scientist that shows that countries like Australia that have pursued an elimination strategy have lost far fewer jobs. Their entertainment and arts industries are in far better shape than ours and over the last 15 months our liberties have been far more restricted than those who take much stronger measures earlier.

I'm happy to re-run well worn arguments but I'm afraid by confusing Australia's 25 a day outbreak for our 20,000 a day steadily growing infection rate you are spreading disinformation put out to be fair in the national media and fuelled by politicians who have failed at any stage to fully understand the situation they have failed to manage. Not a party political point by the way but a comment upon competence.

I'm sure you are as frustrated as I am about what is happening but If we had taken the action New Zealand and others have taken whilst developing the vaccines we would have suffered less and had a lot more normal including live music in the meantime.

[LukeFRC]

26 minutes ago, Phil Starr said:

No, but it is the currently fastest growing disease because once again we have failed to sufficiently control it. Given a few more weeks of inaction it will be back at the top, clogging up hospitals again. This constant stop start is destroying more jobs than actual proper hygiene measures would. There's a new study reported in this weeks New Scientist that shows that countries like Australia that have pursued an elimination strategy have lost far fewer jobs. Their entertainment and arts industries are in far better shape than ours and over the last 15 months our liberties have been far more restricted than those who take much stronger measures earlier.

I'm happy to re-run well worn arguments but I'm afraid by confusing Australia's 25 a day outbreak for our 20,000 a day steadily growing infection rate you are spreading disinformation put out to be fair in the national media and fuelled by politicians who have failed at any stage to fully understand the situation they have failed to manage. Not a party political point by the way but a comment upon competence.

I'm sure you are as frustrated as I am about what is happening but If we had taken the action New Zealand and others have taken whilst developing the vaccines we would have suffered less and had a lot more normal including live music in the meantime.

I was emailing my counterpart in the company I work for, he made some disparaging comment about having to lock down again, so I looked up the mortality rates hoping to say something along the lines of "well we've had lockdowns but also twice the mortality rate so I wouldn't complain too much" or something.

Our mortality rate is over 60 times higher per 100,000 than Australia - now there are differences, the seasons are offset, they have more space, they are struggling with vaccine rollout, and probably haven't been cronicallly underfunding public services for the last decade like we have chosen to at repeated elections, but still - 60 times the mortality rate. That's crazy.  

[Cuzzie]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

I was emailing my counterpart in the company I work for, he made some disparaging comment about having to lock down again, so I looked up the mortality rates hoping to say something along the lines of "well we've had lockdowns but also twice the mortality rate so I wouldn't complain too much" or something.

Our mortality rate is over 60 times higher per 100,000 than Australia - now there are differences, the seasons are offset, they have more space, they are struggling with vaccine rollout, and probably haven't been cronicallly underfunding public services for the last decade like we have chosen to at repeated elections, but still - 60 times the mortality rate. That's crazy.  

Damning stats for sure, the government is pretty hapless.

If you do not even know and are not meticulous to know  where your security cameras are in your own building, how can you properly  have the attention to detail required to run the country and it’s response.

[Al Krow]

The vaccine programme is the key to getting out of endless lockdown cycles. On that we're all agreed i presume? 

Remind me which Australian university in collaboration with which Australian drug company developed one and whereabouts in Aus these are now being produced?

AZ were not a vaccine manufacturer 18 months ago. But foresight and investment by the UK government made it happen. 

Edited June 30, 2021 by Al Krow

[Cuzzie]

45 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The vaccine programme is the key to getting out of endless lockdown cycles. On that we're all agreed i presume? 

Remind me which Australian university in collaboration with which Australian drug company developed one and whereabouts in Aus these are now being produced?

AZ were not a vaccine manufacturer 18 months ago. But foresight and investment by the UK government made it happen. 

They are a BioPharmaceutical company that makes not just tablets, but medicines in injectable form.

They are not wholly British and indeed have Swedish origins.

They adapted existing tech and a vaccine alongside work from the SARS vaccine with Oxford university granted, but it’s mass producing a formula. Companies like Rolls Royce and Dyson are not ventilator manufacturers but adapted a common process.

Yes vaccines are good and are great, but the point still stands about how different governments have handled things and those figures cannot lie.

Biopharm companies make drugs - that’s it, and you can bet it wasn’t altruistic, there will be profit - and before the ‘vaccine for cost’ argument is trotted out really look at the figures out there which were mentioned on an earlier thread on how it is not given out for cost worldwide, plus what other contracts would be promised…….

Bottom line - every time U.K. opens a country to be visited that countries cases spike and they close again - what does that tell you….

Edited June 30, 2021 by Cuzzie

[Woodinblack]

10 hours ago, Al Krow said:

You can't keep locking down until every last job is destroyed. Covid is not even a top 20 cause of death in the UK currently. 

Dont we already have a another thread for this?

[LukeFRC]

51 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The vaccine programme is the key to getting out of endless lockdown cycles. On that we're all agreed i presume?

Once a disease gets out of control, a vaccine programme is a major key to getting immunity levels up to allow you to get out of endless lockdown cycles. 
However, letting a disease get out of control is a choice, and when it is the speed and ability to lock down areas quickly helps keep lockdowns short and local... so yes someone in the UK government did very well putting our money into a vaccine programme - And I'm thankful for that. 
However our initial inability to control the disease, and our inability for the government to act quickly to lockdown areas mean we have 60 times the mortality rate. 

[LukeFRC]

2 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Dont we already have a another thread for this?

good point!

I'm getting to play bass at church on Sunday! Can't wait. 

[casapete]

Did my first gig this year last night. Just my acoustic duo at a local pub, but nevertheless a landmark event for me - I was actually beginning to wonder if I would ever get out there again. The gig went well, good well behaved crowd and brilliantly organised staff sorting out table service - a buzzer to the bar on each table was available to order drinks. I was initially worried about the drunks left over from the England match, but fortunately they drifted off once we started , funny that! Worries about my hands still being able to do 3 x 40 min sets were unfounded, although my voice only just survived. You forget about rehearsing vocals, well I did anyway. Got home at round 12.30am, absolutely knackered today though. 

[Phil Starr]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

Dont we already have a another thread for this?

We do, sorry for the thread derail guys.

We played a wedding last weekend, large upper floor venue with all the windows and fire doors open so lot's of fresh air. The wedding party were ticked off by the manager when they did get up to dance. Lot's of arm waving from their seats and some singing along but it all felt very safe and it was really good to be back.

It's slightly strange when your set is designed to get people dancing and they can't. I did suggest revising some of the slower stuff we've ditched to get to our dance set but the rest of the band just wanted to stick to the set we were developing before all this happened.

[Al Krow]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

Dont we already have a another thread for this?

Haha - very probably, just as we have several Ibby threads! 

But the "good news" behind this thread (please refer to the OP) was all about the arrival of vaccines followed by scepticism that we had the ability as a nation to roll them out etc. etc. so it's entirely a reasonable point of discussion and Phil (as always) makes some good points, in particular, about the comparison of what's happening here with Aus.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Al Krow

[Woodinblack]

Our next gig is two days after the next unlockdown happens, if the next unlockdown happens which is a reschedule of one we missed when the last unlockdown didn't happen! Thats an indoor one. We also have an outdoor one a couple of weeks after that which is a short one, and on a truck, so that should be good.

[Al Krow]

Seems to me we are in the home straight (yes, I know, famous last words!) and that gigs will be in full flow in three week's time:

'Prof Robert Dingwall, a member of the UK Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, urged people to stop panicking about the current rising infection levels, which may only be reflecting a “last wave of mild infections” among unvaccinated youths.  “It is well past time to panic about infection rates and to publish them obsessively. Even hospitalisation rates are increasingly misleading as better therapy reduces length of stay. Covid is now a long way from being an important cause of mortality [in the UK],” the Nervtag scientist tweeted.'

Edited June 30, 2021 by Al Krow

[walshy]

10 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Seems to me we are in the home straight (yes, I know, famous last words!) and that gigs will be in full flow in three week's time:

'Prof Robert Dingwall, a member of the UK Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, urged people to stop panicking about the current rising infection levels, which may only be reflecting a “last wave of mild infections” among unvaccinated youths.  “It is well past time to panic about infection rates and to publish them obsessively. Even hospitalisation rates are increasingly misleading as better therapy reduces length of stay. Covid is now a long way from being an important cause of mortality [in the UK],” the Nervtag scientist tweeted.'

Hope this is the case. Our guitarist ( mid 30's) got a positive test day after our gig on Saturday, so I have to isolate for 10 days. Luckily I am self employed and my guys can keep the wheels turning while I play bass and buy things. I have 1 jab and negative tests to date. Obviously we have had to cancel 3 gigs too, bugger.

However 2 of the kids were sent home yesterday from school as someone in their year identified them as contacts OUTSIDE ON THE YARD WITH 100M BETWEEN THEM 🤦‍♂️. This has resulted in almost the full year being sent home! Madness. There are only a handful of kids left from a school of 1400. I am glad normality is coming, and I do believe Covid is a bad thing, but all common sense has flown out of the window. Nurse, more pills please!

Edited June 30, 2021 by walshy

[louisthebass]

A gig I was scheduled to play next Saturday has been cancelled as a result of lockdown being extended to the 19th July. On the upside, I've been able to do 4 rehearsals with my bands but have only been able to rehearse with a complete line up once. 

Edited June 30, 2021 by louisthebass
Repetition from a previous post