Here Comes September: Looking Forward To The Return Of Everything

We’ve all seen the crushing news that emerges daily in the wake of the spread of the coronavirus, with COVID-19 causing event after event to cancel and venues to close. Just take a look here to see the toll it’s taken.

In this time we look for meaning or something to make sense of everything, some hope to hold on to. If you look in amongst all the cancellations and rescheduling, there seems to be a common theme - most people seem to have drawn a line at September and have declared that’s when things will resume, as the majority of tours seemed to be getting pushed back to that month at the earliest, while everything else before then is falling by the wayside. Of course the way things are changing almost hourly with Government advice and directives they might have to be forced back further, but for now, even with the vague language of how long we’re in this for, about six months seems to be the safest bet at the moment.

And a theme song to get through it all? Here Comes September by Waikiki. Now as talented songwriters as they are, I’d guarantee you they weren’t writing about a global pandemic nearly two decades before it happened, but I’ve been appropriating their lyrics relevant to the current situation in a way of course they were never written in the first place. That and, well, it’s a damn fine, catchy indie pop song to listen to.

“Sometimes it's out of our grasp”

We’ve all been blindsided by the speed of how the coronavirus has moved. It’s a sad reality that some venues may not make it through the other side, but we can do our darnedest to help them avoid that and we’re all in this together (bonus points if you can find why a Ben Lee reference is even more apt here...). We will get through it. Goddamn it will be freakin’ hard at points, but we will make it to the other side.

“If that's you way you wanna remember, well that's the way you gotta remember”

For now, hold onto your live experiences past and just imagine how good the return to them will be. How amazing will it be to be gathered among hundreds or thousands of other punters, all not having seen a live show for however long? Remember yelling at the top of your voice along to a song, raising that beer aloft in solidarity, holding your phone up along with everyone else to make that cool little starry night effect that happens when enough punters do it…

“Well it's a sad, sad day, for the people inside”

Yes, musos are in self isolation or forced not to tour, missing out on vital income, but some have been livestreaming from home to still get their music out there. Also, just imagine too the burst of creativity that’s going to emerge from all the artists cooped up at home with pretty much nowt to do but focus on writing - we could get a glut of new songs or albums. The anger and frustration of being locked inside, the fear of not knowing what’s going on, the isolation of being alone - think of what will spill forth from that.

“But I'm alright now”

Hell yeah things are bleak right now. And it’s hard to see the rainbow coming when it’s pissing down, but it will come and the explosion of creativity and of folks wanting to get out and see a gig will be enormous (yep, definitely #keepyourticket). Support is out there, everyone’s in the same situation and, rather look at all the crap happening now, let’s try to look ahead to all the good things to come.

#HereComesSeptember

For more information about how COVID-19 is impacting the music industry, follow the link here.