Foreign artists playing concerts in the United Kingdom are not always required to obtain a visa; however, circumstances turned out to be somewhat complicated for the Luxembourgish jazz/rock band when they arrived at the Calais terminal.
“I somehow managed to miss that an official invitation is needed,” Benoit Martiny explained. “I did have evidence, email communications, posters for the festival we were meant to play at, and so on. My mistake was thinking that would be enough, and neither the venues nor anyone else provided information on exactly what would be required.”
In other words, artists hoping to play concerts in a post-Brexit Britain must fulfil special visa requirements to avoid falling foul of the law. Selected festivals and venues which are “permit free” may have exemptions, but this was not the case for Martiny and his band. However, if event organisers specifically invite an artist or a band to perform at a festival or a concert, they would be permitted to enter Britain without major barriers.
For a semi-professional band, of course, this is an unrealistic expectation.
The band says it has become increasingly unrealistic to earn money in the UK, where the rules for touring EU artists were significantly tightened after Brexit. “Basically, we would have put more money into the British economy than our earnings from the tour. Our plans to visit were never for the money, because the venues and the festival had very small budgets.”
The three members of the band were subsequently detained by border forces for two to three hours without their phones, before being escorted out by the French police. Martiny says they were made to feel like criminals despite complying and displaying honesty - something he describes as “disappointing”.
“The immigration officer said the answers I gave were not satisfactory. This suggests I was lying or had no idea... And really, in terms of the invitation letters, it isn’t clear how official they have to be. It’s very vague. This isn’t the first time I’ve gone to play in a country where I need a working visa or a letter of invitation, but it was all so vague here that I thought we could still go, as we were able to prove that we were scheduled to perform.”
There was practically no information offered on behalf of the British organisers either. In general, the band says communication with the tour venues was difficult, and the rules and regulations were described as “flimsy”.
In any case, the Luxembourgish band has been forced to cancel the planned concerts between 6 and 9 June, which they bitterly regret, as they say they had been preparing and looking forward to their UK performances for months.
