Isle Of Wight Festival boss John Giddings has told NME about his plan for live crew workers and music venues to come together for a mass roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Giddings, who also works as a promoter and music agent, made his suggestion on Twitter last night (January 5), urging the UK Government to make the most of the skills of the thousands of event and live crew unable to work at present, as well as the countless music venues unable to open their doors due to coronavirus restrictions.
“Dear Boris Johnson,” he wrote. “We are the music business â we have thousands of skilled people capable of running events and empty theatres/clubs/arena. Give us the vaccines and we will work 24 hours a day to sort it?”
Dear @BorisJohnson – we are the music business – we have thousands of skilled people capable of running events & empty theatres/clubs/arenas – give us the vaccines & we will work 24 hours a day to sort it ?
— John Giddings (@JohnGiddings01) January 5, 2021
Speaking to NME today (January 6), Giddings explained how he thought that the idea was a no-brainer and that he had grown tired of inaction.
âI was lying in bed last night thinking: âFuck all of this for a game of soldiers â why donât I do something as opposed to waiting for people to tell me what to do?â I sent out a tweet saying that Iâve got thousands of people who know what theyâre doing and hundreds of empty venues and itâs created a snowstorm,” he told NME.
With festival season 2020 completely wiped out by the virus, yesterday saw a government select committee being told that this summer’s festivals could be cancelled as soon as this month without government support and assurances regarding insurance, funding, the vaccine and mass-testing.
Giddings said that he was “very confident” that festival cancellations would be avoidable with more proactive cooperation.
âWeâre all sitting here moving tours left, right and centre, employing people for a year without any income, and everything Iâm reading gives me less and less confidence in this vaccine being rolled out in time to make things happen,” he told NME. “Itâs a very selfish thing â I want to make the Isle Of Wight Festival happen. The only way it will happen is if we get enough people vaccinated and weâre capable of doing a test very quickly.”
He continued: âIn December, you could test a Dover truck driver and get a result in 20 minutes. Please tell me that in six monthsâ time it must be able to be quicker. If itâs not, we should all give up and go home. The scientists have done a brilliant job, but we need to utilise. I canât stand this bureaucracy, we need to roll it out and make it happen.”
Echoing that the events industry had the necessary skills to help with the roll-out of the vaccine, the festival boss said that the government casting a wider net for help was essential to defeating the “invisible enemy” of coronavirus.
âWeâre in the music business: we donât work nine to five, itâs 25 hours a day,” he argued. “All these people know what theyâre doing, theyâve worked with large crowds in venues hundreds of times before. With all due respect to the British Army, they donât know the inside track on The O2 or Hammersmith Apollo. I donât want to vaccinate people, I just want to set it up for people to be vaccinated easily over a 24-hour period. Why canât we do that?”
He added: âLive Aid happened in three weeks. Everything is possible if youâve got the will to win. Itâs about doing a job, doing it properly and quickly, and in the live music business we need to make things happen within a short period of time. We canât make excuses. The people I employ know how to do this. Iâm just fighting to help this happen.â
Asked if he’d be taking his plan to any higher powers in government, Giddings replied: âIâve already had a call. I canât go into details. Getting a call and something happening are two different things, but Iâve had interest already. We are at war with an invisible enemy. Why doesnât anyone take it more seriously?â
A number of venues and industry figures have since taken to Twitter to share their support, including London’s G-A-Y club, who have experience in working with the NHS.
G-A-Y & Heaven have already offered all its venues to Westminster City Council. Heaven dance floor is already been split into social distancing booths, when made our venues COVID safe. We have for over 10 years worked with NHS to do HIV Testing, so we are ready to go with
— Jeremy Joseph G-A-Y (@JeremyJoseph) January 6, 2021
Just let Sarah Sheppard run it and itâll be done by lunchtime Friday tbh.
— getcapewearcapefly (@forgetcape) January 5, 2021
Maybe stadiums with those people but not empty non-ventilated areas because that would become a hotspot for the virus. Weâre trying to eradicate it, not pass it on.
Us music industry types would do it on a budget aswell. Too simple for tories to understand.
— Rob Troubadour (@RobTroubadour) January 6, 2021
UK Music shared a new report, Let the Music Play: Save Our Summer 2021, yesterday outlining their recommendations for how to restart the UKâs live music industry once it is safe to do so with government support.
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