Live music and the rise of the ‘enormodome’

You can learn a lot from Companies House, the online register of British firms. For instance, that George Michael’s private company, now owned by his estate, goes by the comical name of Nobby’s Hobbies Holdings Ltd. And also that Nobby’s Hobbies Holdings Ltd has just filed documents announcing plans to broaden activity “in the next one to three years to include live public performances”.

But wait: live performances from a singer who died in 2016? What can it mean? Speculation points to a possible hologram comeback, inspired by Abba’s triumphant move into the virtual realm with their Abba Voyage show. Like the latter’s “Abbatars”, the scheme has a nifty coinage: “HoloWham”. And Andrew Ridgeley, whose original role in Wham! was about as substantial as a hologram, is on board with the idea. Perhaps he and George will be able to share a stage again.

Of course, it won’t be the real George Michael. Death, alas, has robbed us of that. But if the star makes a posthumous return in digital form — his estate has neither confirmed nor denied the speculation — it will underline the high-tech illusionism that saturates pop stagecraft these days. Not just gigs with virtual stars, but gigs featuring flesh-and-blood ones too, and audiences filming the action on phones to watch back at a later date. Working out what exactly is “live” about live music isn’t straightforward.

That observation is less true of grassroots venues with their meat-and-potatoes sound systems, where there can be no mistaking the source of the voices and instruments blaring from the speakers. They face a precarious future. According to the charity Music Venue Trust, almost one in every six small venues in the UK closed or ceased scheduling music in 2023. Spiralling costs and noise complaints were among the reasons.

It’s the opposite situation at the other end…