Performance license still not ready, club in search of new investors
It’s still not clear when jazz club number five on the bund will see the return of its house band Five Below.?? The licensing process is taking much longer than originally expected,
the two-week processing period already stretching to nearly a month now.?? Of course the club could bring the band back in to play without a license, but it would risk thousands of dollars in fines as well as possible deportation of musicians.?? Plus the musicians would have to miss the earlier world cup games in order to play music, which would be simply inappropriate.
During the World Cup many local bars have seen a decrease in business, except for the major sports bars of course.?? And the sales of TVs and video projectors went up before World Cup quite a bit, so that during this time every bar can be a sports bar.?? It’s the one time of year that even some of the hard core jazz clubs put up a big screen TV to show the games (in a separate area from the stage at least).?? JZ has been showing the games in the roof garden and I hear CJW Xintiandi has a screen outside in front.?? However Cotton Club and House of Blues and Jazz both remain purely music venues, not sure if business is holding up ok or not.
Number five has always been part sports bar anyway so it’s surviving on World Cup business for the time being, however it’s hard to say how things will go after the music license does actually come through.?? The club’s operating capital has run out and it is courting new investors to put in what it needs to make the final push into profit land.?? Until then, World Cup might win priority over jazz until it’s over, and even then without the necessary capital the band can only play as much as business can directly support it.?? And if an investor puts down the dough and doesn’t want to have jazz anymore, well that’s how it will be.
So if you want to invest in number five (and promise to keep the band) send me an email.?? Stay tuned for the next episode of the saga.