Van Morrison has denounced socially distanced concerts as “pseudo-science” and urged fellow musicians to support the reinstation of full capacity live gigs.

Sharing a post on his website titled ‘Save Live Music’, the Northern-Irish singer criticised socially distanced gigs as not “economically viable”. “I call on my fellow singers, musicians, writers, producers, promoters and others in the industry to fight with me on this. Come forward, stand up, fight the pseudo-science and speak up,” he continued.

Morrison himself is scheduled to play several socially distanced concerts next month, including Camden’s Electric Ballroom and The London Palladium, and was announced to headline the UK’s first socially-distanced venue – The Virgin Money Unity Arena – in Newcastle next month.

“This is not a sign of compliance or acceptance of the current state of affairs, this is to get my band up and running and out of the doldrums. This is also not the answer going forward. We need to be playing to full capacity audiences going forward.”

FIGHT FOR LIVE https://t.co/QlxTmcfy9D pic.twitter.com/mAsNreXSkj

— Van Morrison (@vanmorrison) August 21, 2020

The Brown Eyed Girl singer also praised Andrew Lloyd Webber for his vocal criticism of socially distanced performances. “Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and myself appear to be the only people in the music business trying to get it back up and running again. Come forward. It’s not economically viable to do socially distanced gigs. Come forward now, the future is now.”

His announcement received a largely negative response on social media, with self-identifying Van Morrison fans criticising and ridiculing the singer’s plea. “I have been listening to your music since the early 70s and it remains something that I listen to nearly every day. But this is madness. The science is real,” said one fan in response to the Singer’s post on Facebook.

Socially distanced gigs began in the UK earlier this month, with Sam Fender performing two sold-out shows at Gosforth Park. Audience members were seated outside on separate elevated platforms to ensure space between groups.

Wild Paths Festival was recently announced as a new socially distanced festival coming to Norfolk next month, and other venues have announced their plans to restart operations with social distancing measured in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has now claimed more than 800,000 lives worldwide.