Green day cancellation poses questions for safety

The July 4th Green Day show in Scotland, which was cancelled 40 minutes before doors opened, with promoters blaming adverse weather conditions, has raised some interesting questions, not least as Glasgow City Council, which owns the venue, have now distanced itself from the decision.

Shortly before doors were due to open at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow, promoter PCL Presents issued a statement, saying: "After many months of hard work and preparation, and after seven days of production and site crew working tirelessly around the clock on site, adverse weather conditions overnight and throughout the morning, during the band's scheduled load-in, led to issues on stage. A meeting between the on-site health and safety, event management, the artists' representatives and promoters concluded that it would be unsafe in the timescale to proceed with the event".

Later, in their own statement, the band said: "The local safety council, production crew, and concert organisers have deemed the stage unsafe for the fans and everyone involved. We are very distraught about this as we are in Glasgow now and were very much looking forward to this show as one of the highlights of our tour" adding  "We have been playing in extreme weather conditions throughout this European tour, and the last thing we want to do is see a show cancelled. We love our Scottish fans and we don't care if it's raining fucking sideways, although the safety of our fans and our crew is always our top priority".

Glasgow City Council, said in a short statement that it had nothing to do with the show being cancelled: "The decision to cancel the Green Day event was taken by the promoters and management of the band, not Glasgow City Council".

As the dust settled on the last minute cancellation, questions began to be asked about why the weather had been such a factor in the cancellation, as on the day of the show the weather had improved. Admidst accusations that PCL Presents had been ill prepared for for the show, director Paul Cardow was forced to issue a statement saying “What can I say but sorry for all inconvenience”, but he denied that the company had misled fans over the cause of the cancellation, adding “The torrential rain at the band’s load in made the situation impossible.”

What the 'issues on stage' were remains to be seen - the tweet (pictured) is one person's take on this. Another tweeter posted "If @PCLPresents can't run a gig in Glasgow when it rains, should they really be running gigs at all? #greenday". 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/04/heavy-rain-forces-green-day-to-cancel-outdoor-concert-in-glasgow-park

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/green-day-gig-promoter-forced-10745653

Scots challenge foolish licensing change

Hundreds of artists in Edinburgh are planning a day of "artistic disobedience" on April Fools’ Day in opposition to new licensing rules due to be introduced in the city. As previously reported, new licensing regulations will expand the number of live events that need to apply for a licence from city authorities, including free events. Ironically the Scottish move comes as the new Live Music Act becomes law in England and Wales which substantially removes licensing obligations from smaller music events which were introduced by the 2003 Licensing Act.

And one community group has criticised a Scottish council after it was told it would need a public entertainment licence for a children's Easter egg hunt. Myra Carus, of Rosemarkie Amenities Association, told BBC Radio Scotland that it was ridiculous the group was having to shell out £153 for a free community event. Highland Council said charges for some free events would be required from April due to changes in legislation.

Downloading Scottish gradmother gets 3 years probation

Anne Muir, the Scottish grandmother who was convicted of copyright theft for sharing over 30,000 music files via P2P networks earlier this year, has been sentenced to three year's probation. It was stressed in court that Muir was suffering from depresion and this drove her filesharing actions, rather than any intention to profit or to deny rights owners their profits. Welcoming the ruling, a spokesman for the BPI told reporters yesterday: "Today the court has recognised that illegal file-sharing on a massive scale is a serious matter and has imposed a sentence aimed at preventing such behaviour in future. We would like to thank the Strathclyde police and the procurator fiscal service in Ayr for their diligent work on this investigation".