Van Morrison is scheduled to play at the UK’s new socially distanced arena next month, but he’s not happy about it. In a new statement posted to his official website, the singer say that socially distanced gigs are not an economically viable solution and calls on the music industry to “fight the pseudo-science” surrounding the pandemic:

As you know, we are doing socially distanced gigs at Newcastle Upon Tyne’s Gosforth Park, Electric Ballroom and The London Palladium. 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.

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.

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.

We would like to publish a list of names of all those who are supporting the industry. If you would like your name included contact us at webadmin@exileproductions.net

It’s not quite clear, however, what Morrison is actually trying to say here. Is he criticizing the COVID-19 restrictions as “pseudo-science” and saying that we should just go about our business as usual? Or is he calling on us to take the virus seriously so that we can defeat it, do away with these half-measures, and return to real live music as soon as possible? Either way, he’s definitely passionate about it!