Wendy and I went to see Leveret at Pontardawe Arts Centre tonight. All three on top form, but the audience size was not great - around 55 paying punters. How bands can keep going in the face of certain losses every time they tour, I have no idea.
Here's an interesting Guardian article on this very subject, published today.
I suspect that that article was written to order. The Weeping Willows - an Australian duo - are embarking on a fifteen date UK tour shortly, The Paperboys (from Canada) are doing twenty dates in Europe (I’m including the UK in that definition) - they may well be losing green but as we all know, the first time Fairport made any money was when they got dropped and paid off by Phonogram, so this isn’t a new story. As Dr. Hunter Thompson so sagely opined, "The Music Business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."
