The great news this morning is that one of Ireland's most famous venues, Whelan's, is to re-open on Monday August 10. There are significant socially distanced changes, though, as outlined in the statement below. Reduced capacity or not, it will be awesome to have them back...

"Baby Steps, you gotta crawl before you can walk," they say. "Whelan’s is delighted to be returning, to be coming out of musical hibernation, after our Covid winter. But we haven’t been sleeping, we’ve been planning on how to make the venue safe for everyone who has the live music bug. We’ve also been working to make sure that we can run shows with safety at the forefront. For the staff, the performers and of course our music nut customers who need their sonic fix. So in the short term, at least, we need to limit our capacity and are only running shows in our main venue. This means that a capacity of 450 has become 88 with all shows being seated. Sales will be by the table, so 2,4 or 6 people at a table.

"It seems prudent to limit the number of people performing and the genres of music we can cater for as well. So for the first few weeks of gigs it will be more acoustic or electronic in nature. We can’t expect people to stay routed to a seat when an eight piece rock band is tearing up the stage. We’re all human after all. It's hard to fight the urge to join in when a band is in full flow. Expect more solo acoustic acts and trad and folk. Expect up and coming comedy shows. And even the odd (possibly in every sense of the word) table quiz. But the main thing is we are open for creativity. For people creating magic on our stage.

"Show announcements will begin next week as we finalise plans. It’s not the ‘new normal’, it's the temporary finding your feet normal.

"Safety measures:
Assigned Seating at tables only.
Temperature checks at the entry.
Disinfectant hand rub at entry and throughout venue.
Table service only.
Advance booking only.
"Lead contact details taken.

"For the Bands:
No sharing of vocal mics.
Vocal mics disinfected after use and not used for at least 3 days later.
Vocal mics using pop shields.
Mic stands and leads also disinfected after use.
Socially distanced dressing-room.
No more than 3 or 4 on stage at any one time.
Safe distance between band and front of audience."