With the return of live music in Northern Ireland, local musicians have been eagerly awaiting filling their calendars again.
Derry musician Jordan O’Keefe spoke to MyDerry about the struggles the music industry has faced over the last year and the feeling of being back performing live. Jordan said: “I had a great routine before COVID hit. At the weekends I was doing 3 gigs a day.”
He said: “I had a lot planned to go ahead in 2020. It was going to be a great year but then obviously everything took a bad turn.”
Repeated lockdowns with no return to live music in sight had a severe impact on those who relied on live music as their main source of income.
Jordan said: “I know people who relied on gigs as their main source of income. It was a really difficult time for everyone but especially musicians for whom this was their way of providing a life for themselves.”
He said: “It affected everyone’s mental health of course. I felt okay for most it but after Christmas I just became agitated. I wanted to go back to singing and performing live.”
For musicians across Northern Ireland, the announcement of the return of live music was eagerly awaited. Jordan said: “We knew we would not be one of the first things to return, but with every delay going back to gigs felt further and further away.”
He said: “There was an announcement that would see live music return, but it was pushed back. I had bookings for the first two weeks of the original announcement date and thought this will be great to get some money back in again but then of course had to cancel them.”
He said: “Once the announcement was made it was great to be able to start taking bookings and know there was going to be some money coming in.”
At the end of his first week back performing live, Jordan said: “The atmosphere is amazing in the bars with live music back. Some of the bars lost some of their atmosphere as their customers would come in to hear live music.”
He said: “Before lockdown, singers in bars tended to just become background music. I think people missed it more than they expected. People really appreciate having musicians back in bars. When I was performing at the start of the week people were clapping along and just enjoying themselves and the atmosphere.”
The future looks a lot brighter for local musicians, with outdoor festivals such as Stendhal making its return this weekend. With a strong feeling of optimism, Jordan had a message for his fellow musicians. He said: “To everyone that has had a bad year, I am so happy to see everyone back playing. Long may it continue.”
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