Live and Let Live: Brits set to travel 3.2bn miles in search of live entertainment this summer

Barclaycard Entertainment partners with Mr Motivator to help fans get festival fit for gigs and events this summer

As lockdown restrictions ease, new research shows fans can’t wait to get back to live entertainment, with the nation expected to spend £8.3bn and travel up to 3.2bn miles to catch their favourite shows, gigs and festivals
Yet, with over a year with limited live entertainment, 45 per cent feel out of practice and 32 per cent believe they’ve lost their rhythm and have forgotten how to dance
42 per cent worry they could be at risk from a number of festival ailments: with Chant throat, queue ear and welly knee among the injuries out-of-practice gig-goers are concerned about sustaining on the festival fields this summer
Barclaycard Entertainment has partnered with fitness guru and festival legend Mr Motivator to devise a workout routine to get Brits warmed up and ready to celebrate their ‘love of live’ this summer

After a year on hiatus Brits are hungry for live entertainment this summer. New research from Barclaycard Entertainment finds the nation is set to spend £8.3bn* on live entertainment and travel up to 3.2bn** miles across the country in order to catch much missed acts.

Event-goers are so keen to reignite their love of live that almost one in five (19 per cent) would travel over 100 miles to catch their favourite acts. The average live entertainnment fan has already purchased tickets to five events with three in 10 (27 per cent) buying tickets to favourite acts they’ve seen before as they’ve missed them so much during lockdown. A fifth (20 per cent) are even eying up events they wouldn’t usually go to because they’re so excited to get back in front of a stage and 16 per cent aim to see new artists they discovered online during the pandemic.

Almost half (47 per cent) say live entertainment now means more to them than ever before, allowing them to create the best memories with friends and family (49 per cent) and bringing more joy than baby showers (43 per cent), family weddings (28 per cent) and even Christmas (23 per cent).

In spite of this excitement to relish live acts in real life, 45 per cent of event-loving Brits feel out of practice after more than a year of cancelled gigs, festivals and theatre. Almost half (49 per cent) fear they’ve forgotten how it feels to be in a big crowd, a third (32 per cent) worry they’ve lost their rhythm and can no longer dance and 28 per cent can’t remember how to put up a tent.

Gigs (23 per cent) and festivals (19 per cent) are where live-loving Brits feel most out of practice after 12 months without flexing their musical muscles. In fact, four in 10 (42 per cent) worry they could be at risk from a number of new festival ailments coined by Barclaycard Entertainment.

More than one in 10 (12 per cent) fear they might succumb to ‘chant throat’, a jaw and mouth disorder incurred by singing and shouting, and 9 per cent are readying themselves for ‘welly knee’ as they trudge through the infamous muddy fields of the UK to get a glimpse of their favourite acts on stage.

The afflictions gig-goers are worried about this summer:

Chant throat – an affliction resulting from singing and shouting too loudly	12 per cent
Queue ear – an affliction from straining to hear a friend speak in the queue	11 per cent
Summer shoulder – soreness of the shoulder from raising hands to live music, or from having a friend sit on your shoulders	9 per cent
Carb coma – fatigue from a diet that consists of mainly carbohydrates	9 per cent
Welly knee – an aching of the knee from footwear designed for comfort over waterproofing	9 per cent
Festival forehead – a skin condition as a result of dehydration	7 per cent
Carnival Core – an affliction to the abdomen from attempting dance moves beyond your ability	7 per cent
Tent elbow – casued by over stretching your body to get dressed horizontally in a tent	6 per cent

To help Brits limber up and get set for live, Barclaycard has teamed up with Mr Motivator to create a warm-up routine with a difference. Moves are designed to help fans ease their bodies back into live entertainment ‘exercise’ and protect against on-site soreness. The short, easy to follow guide can be completed at home, or even on the way to an event.

Daniel Mathieson, Head of Sponsorship at Barclaycard said: “We always suspected it, but it’s clear we are a nation of live entertainment lovers and with that in mind, we are so pleased to see how committed Brits are to making up for lost time.

“It goes without saying that this year has been incredibly challenging for the industry and those that love to support it. We want to help people celebrate their ‘love of live’ so are offering a number of perks, such discounts on food and drink at festivals this summer, as well as providing access to exclusive pre-sales and discounts on tickets across the rest of the year.”

Mr Motivator commented: “Festivals and live entertainment are good for the soul. Serotonin is the hormone that influences our mood – and the buzz of live entertainment can increase that. But to keep a happy mind, you need a happy body and a festival in particular can be a physical experience, fraught with potential for injury.

“For years, I’ve performed on-stage workouts across the UK to help people get into the festival spirit, but this year is different, and we need to put in the prep before we even get to the field. I hope this workout gets people set for the summer and a deluge of incredible live performances.”

Notes to editors

For more information or to request an interview with Mr Motivator, please contact Barclaycard@tinmancomms.com or 0790 059 6994.

About the research

The research and partnership with Mr Motivator is part of Barclaycard’s Love of Live campaign. Throughout the summer, the campaign will celebrate the return to live entertainment with tips and tricks from some of the UK’s favourite stars, to help Brits get more of the moments they have been waiting for. For more information about Barclaycard Entertainment, visit www.barclaycard.co.uk/personal/credit-cards/barclaycard-entertainment.

Consumer figures are taken from a survey conducted by One Poll of 2,000 adults between 24^th and 28^th June 2021, on behalf of Barclaycard Entertainment.

*Total spend calculated as 52.9 per cent of Brits will attend a live event this year. Of those, the average Brit said they were set to spend £297.05 on live events this Summer. Based on most recent ONS figures the UK adult population is 52,673,433. 52,673,433 x 52.9 per cent = 27,864,246.057. £297.05 X 27,864,246.057 = £8,277,074,291.23.

**Total distance calculated from 72.6 per cent of Brits who attend live events. Of those, the average Brit said they would be willing to travel up to 83.92 miles to attend their favourite live events. Based on most recent ONS figures the UK adult population is 52,673,433. 52,673,433 x 72.6 per cent = 38,240,912.358. 83.92 miles X 38,240,912.358 = 3,209,177,365.08 miles

About Barclaycard

Barclaycard, part of Barclays Bank PLC, is a leading global payment business that helps consumers, retailers and businesses to make and take payments flexibly, and to access short-term credit. In the UK we process nearly £1 in every £3 spent using credit and debit cards, and in 2020 we processed over £267bn in transactions globally. We also partner with a wide range of organisations across the globe to offer their customers or members payment options and credit.