The Glasshouse

Last week there was only one hot ticket in town. And there were only two colours to wear. St James’ Park was a sea of black and white – 150,000 people, 3 shows.

That’s statistically 30% of the Newcastle Gateshead population or 10% of the entire North East population from Cumbria in the west, across to Sunderland in the east, up to the Scottish Border and down to North Yorkshire. It’s quite a reach as a percentage of the population – you don’t get that at Wembley!

Live gigs exist only in the moment for only the people who are there together. It’s one of the unique things that make live events so special.  You have something which can never be repeated  – it is only left in your memory and soul. And you share it mostly with people you’ll never meet again! If we needed any definitive proof that the pandemic didn’t dampen the human need for live performance, collective gathering, it was there in St James’ Park last week. In technicolour black and white!

Sam Fender’s music has come to represent the city and region in the 2020s – the Fender musical world IS the North East now. And as we spill out of the stadium there is a palpable sense of joy. It is a joy which catapults us back into the world and our next days and weeks, bringing with it an increased sense of wellbeing and confidence for ourselves, our city and our region.

It’s not just these gigs which are generating confidence – the city hosted the MOBOs in January, brings BBC Proms in July and the Mercury Prize in October. It is on a roll with music. We now have a region which has Music Cities in Sunderland and Newcastle Gateshead and a Music Alliance in Tees Valley. We have new sense of confidence and purpose that music – alongside other 21st century industries – can drive social and economic value for our region.

There are hard economics behind it. The economic impact of the three gigs was significant for the city, in the same way that Taylor Swift’s Eras tour generated £1billion of value across the cities it took in. Eras generated the same value for the world as The Glasshouse has generated for the North East in its first 20 years. Both of these numbers show that the Creative Sector is a serious player in the 21st century economy. It has an important role to play in any modern economy.

What might be less clear is that the two routes to £1billion value are mutually dependent – you don’t get Fenders or Taylor Swifts without The Glasshouses or other music centres bedded into their communities and you don’t get The Glasshouses without the Taylor Swifts.

In other words, you need both the day-on-day performances, education programmes and support for musicians in the places they grow up in and live AND the big headline gig which inspires and brings a one-off shot of joy and confidence.

Sam knows this. In his moment as the big headline gig, he brought on stage a young 16 year old musician, his teacher d and a local colliery band. And all tickets included a donation to music charities which support young people to get access to music. In sum, he knows he is part of an ecology and would not be where he is without it. He is active in acknowledging this, using his moment of spotlight to lift the lid on it. A 31-year old on the cusp of a global profile could be forgiven for being very focused on himself and his music only. But this one isn’t – he sees the wider view; he knows that everything is connected and gives proper acknowledgement to it.

All of this in the same week as the government’s spending review made me think aboutpublic policy’s role in all of this.  In many different ways and for many different reasons, we were all looking for evidence of what the government’s growth strategy is going to be. Perhaps inevitably, we got some signs, some clues, but no simple explainer.

Which made me think about the components which might drive this strategy and where the creative sector sits in all of this. For me it might include more supporting the development of the northern economy as well as that of the south; more on skills and education; a focus on jobs for BOTH the smaller but fastest developing 21st century sectors AND those that employ mass numbers of people; and an ability to put money behind mid-and-long term initiatives rather than just dealing with the short term. And ways to stimulate a focus less on how much money goes to individual areas and more on how the money is spent in a co-ordinated way. To the point that Sam Fender illustrates so simply – everything is connected. Addressing child poverty or, say, 21st century skills needs doesn’t sit in one policy area. It sits across them. So the critical thing is as much about how area allocations are spent in step together, as how much goes to any individual area.

The Industrial Strategy, Devolution Bill and – looking at our sector – the Creative Industries Growth Plan are opportunities to focus on this ‘how’. And they will come next following last week’s Spending Review.

In the meantime and for now, we have the three Fender gigs as symbols of a region on the rise. A window on our future.

Of course they are also simple ‘fairy dust’. That thing which stirs the human spirit and soul and cuts to our very essence as we are singing the songs we love along with 50,000 other people AND the person who gave them to the world.

3 great gigs and a window on the future. Nothing at all and everything at the same time.