The legendary progressive rock group, Marillion, have come up with a unique way to solve the problem of not being able to buy Pandemic insurance ahead of their UK tour.
The band has already invested more than £150,000 on preparations for the 10-date “The Light at The End Of The Tunnel” road trip, but risks losing it all if just one of the band is forced to isolate with Covid.
The tour would be cancelled, but the group would have to honour payments for lighting, trucks, tour buses and crew. This would be on top of not receiving any money from any remaining gigs that had not been played.
“The band has not played live since the Pandemic began, and to lose such a huge amount of money would be absolutely devastating,” explained their manager, Lucy Jordache. “We tried to get the tour insured, but it has proved impossible. No companies want to take the risk.”
Lucy and the band have come up with a revolutionary way of keeping the show on the road. The first to use crowdfunding back in 1997, Marillion, will now appeal to their massive worldwide fanbase to join forces and become their insurers for the upcoming tour.
Lucy explained: “We’re calling it Lightsavers as the tour is called “The Light At The End Of The Tunnel’. We’re asking our fans to pledge money that will be held in escrow and if it all goes Covid free it will be returned to them at the end of the tour. But if we do have to cancel, then their money will be used to pay the bands unavoidable expenses.”
However, all would not be lost for the loyal fans. Regardless of whether their money is eventually returned or not, every person who donates will receive “money can’t buy” items in return.
Depending on the amount donated, this could be anything from seeing your name in a tour programme, or a free download of a gig, to a group chat or even a personal meeting with the band via Zoom.
They will also be entered for a raffle with prizes such as a handwritten lyric of their choice, a full set of guitar plectrums, and personal shout-outs at concerts.
Marillion frontman, Steve Hogarth, believes fans will be only too happy to help them out.
“We are blessed with having the most amazing fans. They are incredibly supportive and loyal. We are desperate to play in front of those wonderful crowds again and I know they are so excited to see us,” explained Steve.
“They have come to our rescue before. Way back in 1997, they helped raise $60,000 to underwrite our entire US tour. It was the first noteworthy instance of online crowdfunding – a world first in fact. We also used the same method to underwrite some of our studio albums.”
Steve said the pandemic had been “absolutely devastating” for the music industry and everyone was now desperate to return to normality.
“Like so many other bands, we’ve been in deep freeze for the last 18 months and it’s been incredibly frustrating. It has been a dark time of course for everyone but now there is, indeed, light at the end of the tunnel, and we need our Lightsavers to ensure we reach there,” added Steve.
Marillion’s tour begins at Hull’s City Hall on November 14th. For a full list of dates and venues go to www.marillion.com/tour
For more information, interviews, or images, please contact either Marillion manager, Lucy Jordache on lucy@marillion.com or Robert Cole on rob.cole1960@gmail.com
Calling the faithful……grab a coffee and have a read…it’s a long one…
As you know, we are starting to prepare for our ‘Light At The End of The Tunnel UK tour in November. To say we are excited about it is an understatement. We can’t wait to get back out there and play to you all again (including the premiere of ‘Be Hard On Yourself’ from our album ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’). We know the shows will be wonderful.
However……
As you know, the Covid pandemic is still out there and although we are all double vaccinated (as are our crew), it is still possible to catch it and (even though the vaccine protects from serious illness), according to current laws, if one of us tests positive whilst out on tour then we would have to isolate. Which, in turn, would mean the remaining concerts would have to be cancelled. This would be disastrous.
There is no insurance policy available to cover this. None, nothing, nowhere.
Although we will be taking every precaution available to us (even so far as travelling on a separate bus from the crew and not seeing our families or friends for the duration of the tour), we would still stand to lose in the region of £150,000 if the tour gets cancelled as we would still have to pay the crew, truck and bus companies, hire of lights and PA etc. This, along with the money that we wouldn’t receive for the actual gigs not played, leaves us in a very precarious position.
You have been amazingly supportive with the pre-order for ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark, and that money has and will allow us to finish, manufacture and release the album early next year. Our fans are amazing. You helped us to invent crowdfunding and we need your help again.
In a world first, we would ask YOU to become our insurance company.
Everyone who pledges will receive thank you gifts and also the chance to win money-can’t-buy prizes. At the end of the tour when we (hopefully) haven’t had to cancel any gigs, all your money will be returned to you and you still get to keep the gifts. Obviously if we do have to cancel, then your money will be used with grateful and never ending thanks to pay the £150,000 bill we mentioned above. There are many different pledging levels and please only pledge if you can afford for the money to be used. We hope against all hope that we won’t have to. And we also hope that you will enjoy being part of this, our most radical experiment yet!
But most of all – we hope to see as many of you as we can on the tour (though please don’t touch!)
All details can be found below.
Thank you in advance to our ‘Light’ Savers.
h, Mark, Ian, Steve & Pete