by By Skee Springman
With COVID-19 vaccines being pushed and out and restrictions loosening, there’s one question on everyones mind. What about concerts?
For almost a year now concerts have practically been non existent. COVID has halted concerts forcing rescheduling, cancellations, and delays. Many summer concerts and festivals alike, have pushed their dates back from last year to now. Now slowly approaching those dates, concert venues and bands are forced with the awkward decision of whether or not to play. Big time festivals such as Tommorowland and Burning Man were canceled during the pandemic last year are now starting to see signs of return. While Tomrrowland 2021 has been pushed back to a later date in September, Burning Man is scheduled to be canceled for the second year it a row. So many other concerts such as Bob Dylan, Harry Styles, and The Chemical Brothers have been rescheduled for two years in the future.
With concert venues starting to open up everyone is wondering what kind of changes there will be? Will the long-awaited The Weeknd Tour be taking place after all? So far small indoor concert venues that have reopened have had a huge demand for tickets. That raises the question on what the rules of these venues should be. Many indoor venues are open for shows with the rule of wearing a mandatory mask at all times. Other indoor venues require a mask at entry but when seated or in your section you are able to take it off. Most venues right now are only offering limited seating swell as limited food and drink if any at all. Some concert venues are requiring a sign in sheet or waiver saying that they are potentially putting themselves at risk.
Photo of Red Rocks from cntraveler.com
On the other hand, Some outdoor concert venues have begun to pen up with less strict COVID protocols. Recently Red Rocks has opened back up with a limited capacity and some guidelines. However there were are no temperature checks at the door and no requirements to show proof of a vaccine. A mask is only required in the bathrooms and not anywhere else. The concerts there have been a huge success recently and have helped the city of Morrison which lost a lot of revenue due to the shut down of Red Rocks.
With things slowly going back to normal, it’s starting to look good in the world of Concerts. Hopefully soon enough, everyone will have the chance to enjoy their favorite musicians perform soon enough.
I’ve started to see artists post festival lineups and promote their concerts again very recently. I keep wondering when I will personally start to feel comfortable in crowded spaces and not think about COVID-19, so this concert news makes me a little anxious. I’m excited for things to slowly go back to normal, and I predict that upcoming outdoor festivals will be successful, very popular, and easier to safely manage. I hope that the venues, those throwing the event, and the artists performing encourage attendees to get the vaccine. Great post, Skee!
I thought this was a very well written piece. Concerts are such an important part of my life, pre-COVID I would aim to go to at least 4 concerts a year. Regarding Red Rocks, I saw multiple people on my Snapchat there and it didn’t look like there was any social distancing going on. I know everyone is very anxious to get back to concerts but I feel as though we should wait until 80% of the county is vaccinated.
This was a helpful insight on how some venues in different states are handling reopenings. On one hand, it’s exciting and positive to be seeing artists and festivals begin to advertise and announce concerts, but it’s also very unclear of what type of precautions the venues take into consideration. I know that for me I was really looking forwards to concerts post-covid, but am also a little apprehensive about it also because I’ve been so used to socially distancing and wearing masks in public at all times.
I love this topic that you brought up in this article. I am so excited for the return of concerts and can’t wait to finally hear live music in person once again.
I really enjoyed this post. I really miss going to concerts and enjoying live music. It’s strange thinking about being in a big crowd again but hopefully they are smart about precautions. Since I’m fully vaccinated, being at a concert isn’t as big of a concern to me as it was a couple months ago, but I still hope they are smart about it.
Well written. It is interesting to see the world back in action. However, I have still yet to hear about or attend a concert in person this year. We are definitely seeing festivals and concerts beginning to sell tickets and it is interesting to see how that plays out for the world. I wonder if companies are offering insurance or refunds in case covid/restriction occur again.
Before the pandemic started I was a regular concert-goer. I was so saddened by Covid taking away from my concert attending and I had tickets postponed until this year because of it. I actually just got an email letting me know that a show I purchased a ticket for last year has had an updated concert date in October. I hope things get to a point then where we are a lot safer with each other and at shows. I love going to shows and intimate club venues are my favorite shows to attend. Your blog post gives me hope that we can safely attend shows again. Maybe then we’ll be at a state of normalcy where we can start to put all of this behind us.
Gretst post! I haven’t thought about concerts some much during COVID. I do know though that so much concerts were cancelled like Coachella. My question is are the same artist going to preform for the concerts that they signed a contract with. If I’m not mistaken, I know a lot of artist play songs from new albums and since that was a year I’m wondering if they’ll still have a desire to preform.
We need to see live music. I am planning on pursuing a career in this industry to fulfill the overwhelming demand. We will have COVID Compliance Officers, COVID sniffing K-9’s, proof of vaccination and masks — but nothing will stop us. Mosh pits shall return.