22 February 2021
Newsdesk
The 71-year-old drummer is the latest musician to speak out on post-Brexit touring, after they were left out of the Brexit trade deal, meaning they may have to acquire a visa for every European country they wish to perform in, a policy which could lead to artists being unable to afford playing in the EU.
The 'We Will Rock You' hitmaker insisted that while many artists have their music and publishing income to fall back on, touring crews have already been stripped of their earnings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with touring off due to travel restrictions, and the fact the government has no plans at this time to renegotiate a deal with the EU, could also leave live crews out of pocket.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s 'The World This Weekend' show, he said: “Borders are a dreadful invention of mankind, and so we are just putting up another one, and I think it’s a dreadful retrograde step.
Roger - whose band were forced to postpone their European tour twice as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic - continued: “I know our road crew, all the guys that make our touring work, they are the one that have suffered.
“Not so much for the artists, we can fall back on our songwriting and our publishing, they can’t. It’s a daily, weekly job for them and so it’s made it really hard for our industry, very hard indeed.”
Roger's comments come after Radiohead's Colin Greenwood implored the UK government to "renegotiate its provision" for touring post-Brexit.
While Sir Elton John has also called for a "short-term fix" to make it easier for British musicians to tour in Europe.
