Rolling Stones tour: they may be older but time waits for no one – Adam Behr

This week’s blog is a repost of an article by Live Music Exchange’s Adam Behr in The Conversation following the recent announcement of a Rolling Stones tour. An article in Rolling Stone magazine described the legendary band – its near namesake – as “growing old angrily”. Its portrait of Mick Jagger referenced “age lines around his eyes … as old as …  

Getting the Needle – Martin Cloonan

This week’s blog post is by Live Music Exchange’s own Martin Cloonan, who, with John Williamson, has just completed an important piece of work on the social history of the Musicians’ Union (for more on this, listen to Martin on BBC Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed). This piece is about how the policy of ‘needletime’, brought in to protect the musicians …  

Gig Going on London’s Periphery: Charting the Mainstream in the Margins – Kevin Milburn

Kevin Milburn’s post charts the shift of live activity in London from the early 1960s to the present day from the west to the east and southeast, highlighting the closure of significant venues along the way, including the Lewisham Odeon, as played by The Beatles. The post shows that such sites were not threatened by lack of use or decline but instead because of being based in areas newly attractive to investors, alongside other external factors, a story very pertinent at a time when, according to one report, London lost 30% of its venues between 2007 and 2015.  

‘Live’ / ‘Archive’ – Dr. Abigail Gardner

Today’s guest post is by Dr. Abigail Gardner, Subject Group Leader for Media courses at the University of Gloucestershire. Here she discusses festivals, and heritage acts, in the context of how audiences experience them and their roles as living ‘archives’ of personal and musical history.  

120 years ago today – John Williamson

This is the latest in an occasional series of posts originating from ‘The Musicians’ Union: A Social History’ – an AHRC and ESRC funded research project based in the School of Culture and Creative Arts at the University of Glasgow. Dr. John Williamson looks back at the origins of the Musicians’ Union, on the occasion of its 120th anniversary last month.