Local Spins today kicks off a series of features on the prospects of returning to live music and festivals amid the new normal. Today, John Sinkevics probes the dilemma facing fans and show organizers.
A Scene that Won’t Be Repeated Anytime Soon: Elbow-to-elbow crowds in a packed venue. (Photo/Kendra Petersen-Kamp)
EDITOR’S NOTE: In coming weeks, Local Spins will delve into the complexities of returning to live music amid a continuing coronavirus pandemic. We’ll feature personal essays, columns and stories about the obstacles facing fans, venues and festivals, including a look at northern Michigan which has opened up and started dipping its toes into live music waters. Today, it’s an essay from Local Spins publisher John Sinkevics.
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By this time last year, Local Spins already had covered its first two music festivals of the season and reviewed another month’s worth of robust concerts by touring artists such as Hozier, MGMT, The Cult, Bring Me the Horizon, Donna the Buffalo, Tech N9ne, Jason Aldean and The Who.
In addition to the upcoming Grand Rapids’ Festival of the Arts, Founders Fest and Buttermilk Jamboree, I was bracing myself for another hectic season of concerts at a revamped Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park – starting in early June with a special Tuesday Evening Music Club show starring Michigan songbird May Erlewine and The Motivations.
Fast forward to late May 2020 and there’s only eerie silence.
To say that the COVID-19 pandemic has turned the music scene upside-down actually sounds like a mammoth understatement, and the impact extends far beyond just canceled shows and tours.
Sold-Out Homecoming Show: Billy Strings and his band on stage New Year’s Eve at The Intersection. (Photo/Anna Sink)
There’s a deeply emotional component to this drastic change in one’s normal operating procedure and, for me, an unprecedented upheaval in the neurons of a person who’s devoted much of his life to music and focused the latter part of his career on showcasing the live music experience. It’s all exacerbated by the cloak of uncertainty that makes it nearly impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
But it also forces people to prioritize what’s really important: Many of us can’t risk exposing the vulnerable in our families to a virus that could be devastating, so the idea of cramming into a packed venue of uber-enthusiastic fans isn’t a realistic option.
Just five months ago, I was elbow-to-elbow in an oxygen-squeezing space for a sold-out show by hometown bluegrass hero Billy Strings and I’m not sure I’ll ever experience an environment like that ever again.
I’m not alone.
‘SICKENING’ TO EVEN THINK OF FIRING UP CONCERTS, FESTIVALS?
The lion’s share of fans responding to Local Spins’ recent Question of the Week (“Do you agree or disagree with the decision to cancel free community concerts, the Meijer Gardens series and other summer events due to COVID-19?”) expressed similar hesitation about returning to live shows without a vaccine available. And they expressed support for those organizations forced to scrap summer events.
“Increased levels of exposure significantly increase the probability of vulnerable people – immune compromised or suffering from other ailments – becoming infected, and the consequences for them are often quite severe,” wrote Christopher Nichols. “Out of respect for those who are more vulnerable than I am, I am happy to stay home and participate with my favorite bands over social media.”
Caring About People’s Lives: Olivia Mainville on stage with Via Mardot before the pandemic. Photo/Jamie Geybeek)
Even performers who’ve had their entire season and source of income wiped out are reluctant to return to the stage amid the current environment.
“Canceling festivals affects my business directly, yet I completely agree with the decision to cancel concerts over risking public health,” declared singer-songwriter and Holland native Olivia Mainville.
“The fact that this question is even floating in people’s head is sickening. Should we care for other people’s lives or should we do what we wanna do because we only care about ourselves and we always get what we want? I don’t plan on playing any shows this summer. I had every single weekend booked up. And as much as I like playing shows and like the money, I care about people’s lives more. But I doubt a lot of music venues are going to make the right decision. People are always gonna do what they want to do. Any venue owner that’s having shows this month has lost all my respect.”
“I’m very concerned about my health and the health of the people in my community,” said singer-songwriter Nicholas James Thomasma, adding that he doesn’t want to be responsible for someone becoming infected at one of his shows.
Some also point out that fans willing to take the risk and eager to get back to their favorite festivals often don’t consider the ramifications and new obstacles facing organizers in moving forward. And any venue or festival booking a national act now has to adjust to a flood of tour cancellations.
LOGISTICS, UNCERTAINTY AND NEW PROTOCOLS MAKE STAGING EVENTS A NIGHTMARE
“What many people don’t understand is the months of lead time it takes in planning and logistics to host a show. If they invest the thousands if not millions in promotion and work and have to cancel later, it would be devastating to the organizers,” noted Ben Wade.
“A lot of cancellations are because the planning phase can’t happen now and the event is uncertain. It’s just not a reasonable investment under current conditions. Safer to cancel and wait for next season unfortunately.”
Meijer Gardens Amphitheater: It will likely remain empty for much of the summer. (Photo/Veronica Leigh Anderson)
The Atlantic recently published a sobering report noting that “super-spreader” gatherings that feature singers or tightly packed festivals already have been linked to transmitting thousands of new cases of the virus. That means concertgoers might expect to see everything from new “spittle rules,” face-mask requirements and touchless concessions to unusual social-distancing protocols in the future.
That tightly packed Billy Strings show I mentioned earlier? Forget about it. My guess is that even standing in line to get into a concert or festival will become a much different experience, with assigned times for different groups to enter a show along with other restrictions.
But as a society, we’ve adjusted to changes in lifestyle due to crises before. And I’m hopeful that technological and medical advancements sparked by this pandemic will lead to brand new ways of managing the coronavirus to clear the way for safe concerts and festivals – perhaps new techniques, devices and sanitation methods that we’ve never even imagined.
Will my musical DNA be forever changed due to this live-stream-only world? Only time will tell.
As Local Spins reader Diane Atanasoff put, there is reason for optimism.
“Live music will be back next year, stronger than ever and we will be hungry for it,” she wrote. “But for now, we must be safe.”
Check out more responses to Local Spins’ Question of the Week.
Copyright 2020, Spins on Music LLC
