‘There’s nothing like playing to a crowd’ – DJ cautiously optimistic ahead of nightclubs reopening

The Indo Daily · Home Or Office – What The Easing Of Restrictions Means For You And Your Job

The dramatic overnight drop in trade was a bitter pill to swallow for all affected businesses, but it has been an especially long road back for the live events sector, according to Mr Rigby.

The pressure felt by many was compounded this week he said, by the late announcement of the official guidelines for pubs, late bars and nightclubs.

The guidelines announced by Government and Fáilte Ireland allow for the reopening of late bars and nightclubs, up to 1,500 people may stand or dance at live music events and customers can order drinks at the bar.

Mr Rigby said while they are hopeful today can mark a new dawn for the industry, business owners and performers are still uncertain about how some of these guidelines apply.

“On the Bord Fáilte page on indoor hospitality, it says live entertainment is permitted but they must be seated. So that covers that, but then if you have a 40th birthday and you have a DJ or a band at it, is that a live event now and therefore, are you allowed to have 1,500 people dancing at your party?

“So, weddings are covered, nightclubs are covered but there’s nothing said about functions, social entertainment or parties. We have functions and events booked and people are treating it as it’s go as normal, but the fact that there’s nothing mentioned, someone could turn around tomorrow morning and say no you can’t do it,” he said.

Mr Rigby argued that further ambiguity exists in the definition between nightclubs, later bars and live entertainment venues and this is an area that needs to be clarified urgently.

“I was talking to some late venues and their question is, are they a nightclub or not, how do you define a nightclub? Does a nightclub have to have a dancefloor, does it have to have a late licence? If you’ve got a late bar with a dancefloor, are you now a nightclub?

“If you’re a pub and there’s a band playing, you have to be seated, but if you have live entertainment on as a function, that means you can let people dance because that’s now a live event. So, if your 40th birthday turns into a live event then people can stand, which is very different than if it’s hosted in a restaurant with 10 people sitting around a table,” he added.

Mr Rigby said that because they are a third party, DJs will play if a venue books them, but the lack of clarity is impacting the potential for future gigs.

He said he was getting cancellations from venues up until yesterday because the Fáilte Ireland guidelines were only published on the eve of reopening.

It is particularly affecting Christmas bookings because offices and party venues do not know what kind of parties can be organised he explained.

“Overall, we’re relatively happy, we know it’s going to take a long time to get back up and running fully and there’s still a lot of question marks around the Christmas period. People don’t know if they plan a Christmas party, is that a party, is it a function, is it a live event or is it a social gathering?

“There’s still uncertainty among people in the party industry and also among consumers because small companies don’t know what type of events they are allowed to book,” he said.

“There’s nothing like playing to a crowd” and that connection has been suspended since March 2020, according to Mr Rigby. With him and others like him preparing to dust of the decks this evening, he said that fact alone is worth celebrating but added that more support is needed to safeguard the sector going forward.

“We’ve got bookings tonight that are going ahead with optimism. Most people in the industry feel it will be March next year before things return to normal, so we’re going into this weekend with a cautious optimism that things are going to pick up and that we can rebuild the business,” he said.