13 Sep 2020

Music matters!

“It is so important that music fans and governments realise the impact this virus is having on millions of self-employed people who make the music industry function to bring much needed joy to our lives.” ~ ROGER DALTREY

Music matters! Fustercluck’s mission is to champion and support all who keep the live entertainment industry a vital element of culture and spirit. Through humour, collaboration, advocacy and fund-raising, we promote awareness and financial assistance for these individuals and their families in challenging times.

We recently posted here on The Who’s news pages about the effect that the worldwide pandemic is having on the music industry and particularly on the millions of people who work in that industry. We’re pretty sure that many of you have on occasion, when flicking through a copy of the tour book for any band or artist, been quite surprised to see on the credits page the endless list of people who were involved in getting the show on the road. The long hours of travelling by road or air to get the artists and the truckloads of equipment to each venue, to set it all up – the tour bus drivers and crews, the road crews, the ticket-takers, the stage builders, carpenters, the stage set, the screens and drapes, the lighting designers and lighting rigs, the sound equipment and monitors plus all the amplifiers and instruments, mixing desks, video equipment, wardrobe, dancers, the merchandise people, the countless teams of people who set out the seating and barriers, the caterers, the security crews and the hospitality crews, the guys who clean the whole place up – not just before a show but clean up after you’ve left the venue. That’s a lot of people. A quick glance at the tour book for The Who’s Moving On! tour shows a list of well over 85 people in the basic crew – and that doesn’t include all the musicians in the various orchestras who have accompanied the band on this tour plus all the support industries who help make the shows happen.

When you take your seat in the arena or concert hall early evening before a show, remember those folks on that list – the dozens of people in the road crew who have already been working all day (and many all night) just to make sure that you are going to have the time of your life watching one of the concerts and shows – not just for The Who but for everyone involved in this fantastic industry we are in, whether it be classic rock, hip-hop, R’n’B, boy bands, girl bands, country and folk groups, dance groups, heavy metal, MOR, classical and opera. And with Covid-19 bringing closure to all these venues and arenas all these self-employed people are now out of work.

The Who’s music co-ordinator and conductor, Keith Levenson and his partner Gilgamesh Taggett set up Fustercluck in an effort to make the public aware of the dire straits all these self-employed people are up against in these tough times.What can you do to help? Well, watch the above movie and Fustercluck have some great merchandise on sale at their store and a portion of the proceeds goes to unemployed musicians and their families through MusiCares® . Thanks for taking the time to watch and read – and below are some photographs of just a fraction of the people who get The Who on the road. We are indebted to them.