Covid has killed the live music industry. DJs like me are hoping that 21 June will be a new start
- Laura Bettinson is a producer, DJ and songwriter
If you’d told me at the end of 2019 – a year I spent DJing in Mexico, the US, China and Europe – that a total ban of clubs, live music and communal singing was imminent, I would’ve told you to check your tinfoil hat. Yet here we are, almost 12 months into a global lockdown that has turned life into a modern-day Footloose, that 1980s classic set in a town where dancing is illegal – albeit with less Kevin Bacon and more hand sanitiser.
I first moved to London from a small commuter town in the Midlands aged 18, hungry for new experiences beyond the tourist traps I’d encountered on school trips. The decade of uninterrupted partying that followed, as both a performer and a punter, made the transition to Covid-compliant weekends in front of the TV almost welcome at first. While the disruption of an album campaign for my group, Ultraísta, was a huge disappointment, at least lockdown provided a break from the relentless pace of trying to balance my career, life and leisure.
