Dave Grohl celebrates Covid relief measures for independent concert venues

Grant programme is meant to help keep venues afloat during shutdown

Dave Grohl performs during the Grammys’ Salut To Prince concert on 28 January 2020 in Los Angeles (Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

Dave Grohl has celebrated the approval of relief measures to help independent music venues weather the coronavirus pandemic.

Grohl shared the message on the Foo Fighters’ Twitter account on Monday, extending a “huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone who supported” the measure, known as the Save Our Stages Act.

The bill was first introduced in July by US Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). It was passed as part of the Covid-19 relief bill signed into law by Donald Trump on Sunday night.

The measure establishes a grant programme for live venue operators, talent representatives, promoters and producers.

“The preservation of America’s smaller, independent venues is not only crucial to the millions of concert goers whose lives are bettered by experiencing their favourite artists in the flesh,” Grohl wrote, “but to the future of music itself, as it gives the next generation of young musicians a place to cut their teeth, hone their craft, and grow into the voices of tomorrow.”

Grohl acknowledged the lack of live music throughout 2020, stating it has “left us all longing for that communal feeling of connection”, adding that he hopes to experience it again “very soon”.

The National Independent Venue Association, a group of more than 3,000 independent venues in the US, said in a released statement that the measure will “provide financial assistance to independent venues and promoters that have been devastated by the pandemic’s shutdown” and “enable these locally owned businesses to hold on until it is safe to gather”.

Live entertainment venues, including New York City’s Broadway theatres, had to shut down earlier this year when the coronavirus pandemic made it unsafe to gather indoors, bringing entire sections of the industry to a standstill.