Post-Brexit: British musicians take a visa-free tour – in Iceland

In many parts of Europe, societies are cautiously opening up after the pandemic. For British musicians eager to tour, a new obstacle to playing abroad has emerged – after Brexit, new visa rules apply to allow them to tour Europe.

after a lot euroAnd name groups And the protests of British musicians In the spring of 2021, the British Ministry of Culture late last week introduced a new agreement that will allow visa-free tours – in Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

The population of Iceland is roughly the same as that of Wigan (a city outside Manchester, England). Liechtenstein has the same population as Wilmslow (another town near Manchester). If it wasn’t already tragic, it would be farcical,” Charlatans head coach Tim Burgess wrote in a Twitter comment.

Get buggies in Liechtenstein

He adds that the band has played around the world for 31 years, but has not been shown in Liechtenstein or Iceland.

The British government has indicated that the new agreement with small European countries, which are not members of the European Union, is a first attempt to make it easier for British musicians to tour more countries.

According to the BBC By accounts, none of the top ten British artists have played in Liechtenstein in the past 10 years. Since 2011, only one British artist has done a gig in Iceland – Ed Sheeran. On the other hand, Norway has been a popular place for many artists.

Horace Trowbridge, General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union, talks about the situation of British musicians in the clip.