Following on from the successful at North Gardens, The Eastern Hotel is set to host a leg on the Small Town Big Sound regional tour in May.

The tour's Ballarat leg, presented by the Traffic Accident Commission's Vanessa campaign, is headlined by Camp Cope and will feature Birdz, Elizabeth and local support acts.

Later this month, the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute will host the Keep The Circle Unbroken regional tour, featuring some of Aussie rock's most recognisable names.

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The slew of events is part of the music industry's push to reinvigorate the scene after a tumultuous 2020 filled with COVID-19 lockdowns, leaving venues closed and musicians out of work.

However, with density quotients in place, many venues are dreading JobKeeper ending at the end of the month which has allowed them to operate at a reduced capacity.

The Eastern Hotel booker Nick Murnane said the nine-month closure would have been the 'death knell' for the venue if not for JobKeeper and a $15 million grants package secured by Save Our Scene, but the current COVID-19 safety measures and capacity in place were not sustainable.

"The COVID measures were pretty restrictive and still not sustainable at this capacity but at least it's something. It would be great to get a bit more of a roadmap now JobKeeper is finishing," he said.

"It's good to be open, but we're still not running at 100 per cent which is not sustainable.

"We're running at about 40 per cent or 50 per cent so we really need to be running at 100 per cent to be viable for bands.

"You can't put ticket prices up and bands are hesitant to do the two-show things happening in Melbourne and other cities."

The Eastern Hotel was one of more than 100 Victorian music venues to sign an open letter calling for the state government to give venues a roadmap for the easing of restrictions and capacity increases.

The open letter was also signed by iconic venues such as The Corner Hotel, The Espy and The Forum.

Mr Murnane said seeing large crowds at the football and tennis was hard to swallow.

"It doesn't make sense you can have 50,000 at the MCG but you can't have 150 people at the pub in a higher controlled environment," he said.

"That's what [the] push is about, the uncertainty and no roadmap. We're not asking for 100 per cent capacity today but some sort of goalposts would be great for our industry."

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