Given all I write about the plight of live music venues, I shouldn't really be smirking about Coop Live's teething troubles - but the Schadenfreude is just too irresistible.
The latest development is that the Peter Kay "opening" shows have been postponed for a second time, with today's scheduled Black Keys gig bumped backwards too. The venue has explained that the "extra time" is needed "to continue testing enhanced emergency communications and measures thoroughly". This comes after problems with the power supply.
Former boss Gary Roden had claimed that some grassroots venues are "poorly run", in the course of dismissing the Music Venue Trust's campaign for a £1 levy on arena ticket sales as "quite aggressive". The arrogance and ignorance were bad enough, but, as the MVT responded, "the irony of making ill-judged, unnecessary and misleading comments about grassroots music venues on the day that the launch of their new arena has unfortunately fallen into such difficulties is not lost on anyone in the music industry, on artists, or on audiences".
Roden resigned on Thursday (possibly before he was pushed), but credit to the MVT's Mark Davyd for rising above any pettiness. He wrote on Twitter: "It's not us versus arenas. It's everyone together in one big ecosystem. We are simply asking that this reality is acknowledged, respected and acted upon."
Davyd's "We're all in this together" message is a veiled warning, and the whole Coop Live saga should be a cautionary tale for other smug, cocky arena execs before they spout off condescendingly about their venues' supposed superiority.
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