The gig going experience is finally back to normal - but one thing has changed for the better

When it comes to gig going, the new normal feels very much like the old one. A few weeks ago, I made my way to the Electric Ballroom to see Wet Leg. Getting out at Camden Tube was exactly as it had been on countless occasions for the last 20 years. The high street was thronged with people. Trainers and jeans, indie girls and boys, the black leather, lace and fishnets and pale faces of goths. Every type of hairstyle, beers in some hands.

The short-lived hassle of Covid passes and vaccination certificates has fallen away. Inside the venue, I don’t remember seeing a single mask. The beer was limited in choice and expensive, the queues long – so business as usual. Venues tend to feel a bit corporate nowadays, because most of them are owned by one, but that has been the case for decades now.

I found my place towards the back, with my colleagues. In my younger years, I’d work my way towards the stage and dance, yell and show my support. Occasionally – say, Nine Inch Nails at LA’s Palladium, a couple of years before the pandemic – I’ll even still give it a go. Most of the time I’m happy with a middle-back spot, some space around me and a good view.

As I’m quite tall, achieving this is usually straightforward. At this recent outing however, a 6’7” man arrived and stood in front of me. I laughed, explaining to a colleague that it was normally me being moaned at for doing this. Then the man’s equally tall friend joined him, cutting my view off completely.

My right shoe was stuck to the floor with spilled, sticky beer. A colleague felt liquid touch her face and clothing and assumed it was the same substance. When she got into the light though, it was red wine. As ever, I had forgotten the expensive, custom-fitted earplugs an employer bought for me a decade ago. Fear of tinnitus – and of resulting lawsuits – is rife in the music business. Ah yes, I thought, I remember all this.

The two extremely tall men heard me laughing, turned, smiled and offered to move behind me. If anything, I’d say that gig going post pandemic is just a little bit friendlier. That communal spirit we had all been craving was apparent in abundance in the Electric Ballroom. It seems this is only change to the experience of seeing live music, post pandemic – and I’m very happy with that one.