A survey by the Music Venue Trust has shown evidence of a safe return to live music: During the first month of the U.K.’s reopening, COVID-19 case rates around the local areas of grassroots venues were down 39%, more than the daily national average of 28%.

MVT’s survey also revealed that just 2.1% of live music fans wanted to see certified double vaccination as the sole mandatory condition of entry to gigs. Instead, fans more strongly supported a mix of vaccination proof, testing or immunity. This goes against the latest plan from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said in July that proof of vaccination will be the only ticket into gigs from late September.

Of the 1.9k people surveyed, 82% had already attended or shortly planned to attend a grassroots live music event. More than 73% of those attending gigs are double vaccinated, which is higher than the rate for the general population in the U.K. (61%). Nearly 92% of live music fans plan to be double vaccinated by the end of September.

MVT says that 86% of grassroots music venues are currently open, equating to 817 venues delivering 13k shows in the last four weeks to an audience of 2m. Advance ticket sales are down compared to pre-Covid stats for 68% of the 221 venues surveyed, while 62% said that turn up on the night is down.

The survey results, Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd said, “clearly demonstrate a will by the live music community to create safe spaces, to take personal responsibility for ourselves and each other, and to act to Reopen Every Venue Safely.”

“It is particularly striking that local case and transmission rates around grassroots music venues, far from exponentially increasing as was predicted, have, in reality, exceeded the decline in rates witnessed nationally.”