Live Music Scene in Peterborough Faces Tough Times
Venue owners say fewer young people are heading out to gigs
Venue owners in Peterborough say it’s becoming harder to get people out to gigs, especially younger crowds.
The city’s live music scene is feeling the effects, with fewer new bands able to make a name for themselves.
Steve Jason, who runs the Met Lounge, says the challenge isn’t new—but it’s getting worse.
“It’s always been difficult in a provincial city to get people to go out and see what they don’t know, but club wise, yeah, it is tough. Going clubbing now is not on an 18 year old’s agenda like it was twenty five years ago,” he tells us.
Steve adds that for local bands, building excitement is a real struggle.
“The band has to have a buzz on it to make you want to go and see it, but it’s very difficult for the bands to build the buzz at the moment to be seen."
"Twenty five years ago, a new British band would go out and do probably forty dates around the UK. That forty date tour now has been condensed to a ten date major city tour.”
He says rising costs and dwindling demand make things even tougher for venues:
“Bands want to come and play, but on the other hand, the costs are involved, but there has to be the local appetite to go and see the better as well.”