If you listened to some people you'd burn your guitar now the economy is struggling more than it has in recent years.

I've long said that when times are tough for bars and clubs etc, live music should actually become more not less vital in order to make money. This is because venues will need some method of differentiating themselves, to offer some incentive to get cash-strapped punters up off their backsides and out into the night to spend some money.

One of these ways is by offering live entertainment, a show.

I saw a great example of this in a small Northern UK town last month. This town (I won't mention the name so as to spare the blushes) had only 2 bars open on the Sunday I went there. One of those bars was a venue which advertises live bands 6 nights a week. The owner told me that it was the bands which drew the people in and that without them he too would be closed on a Sunday. He also told me his bar was "as busy as it's ever been".

Not only that, but when I went to see a gig on this particular Sunday, they'd had live bands on all day prior to the evening performance by the band I'd gone to watch.

Who says live venues can't thrive as 2008 draws to a close?