Last month, Travis McCready, of the blues-rock band Bishop Gunn, threw a “pandemic concert” — the first of its kind. An Arkansas venue that can hold up to 1,000 guests hosted the event and allowed 200 fans to attend McCready’s performance while enforcing mandatory face coverings and temperature checks.
It was unusual and a bit awkward, according to Rolling Stone, and it’s not difficult to imagine why. Singing along is a bit difficult with a mask on, and an almost empty concert hall isn’t the typical scream-your-lungs-out concert scene. But it was still live music. And for most of the concertgoers, the live music was all that mattered.
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“It’s like we’re a family,” said Donna Mason, who drove 90 minutes to hear McCready perform. “When you go to a Bishop Gunn concert, all the people know each other.”
But the fact is that artists and venues now have much more to worry about than the music. State governments are increasing regulations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, requiring venues to make space for social distancing and provide sanitary supplies for guests and employees alike.
Some spaces hope to work around these new rules by taking concerts outside. Caramoor, an estate in New York’s Westchester County, plans to hold four performances outdoors in front of “low-density audiences” and livestream the rest. As of right now, it’s one of the few venues attempting to readjust. Most have either canceled their concert lineups altogether or they’ve worked with artists to postpone events.
A few artists have ditched venues completely. Country star Keith Urban played a secret drive-in concert outside Nashville last month for 200 healthcare workers who sat in their cars and listened. And dozens of others, including John Legend and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, have taken to social media to post concert videos online.
The rules might change, and the music industry will change with them, but one thing is clear: There will always be a demand for music. And right now, more than ever, when people are struggling to make sense of an ever-changing and chaotic world, we need the chance to listen, reflect, and be still. So take the concerts outdoors and limit attendance if you must. But let’s make live music accessible once again — because music, and the love of it, is a simple but guaranteed joy. And that’s exactly what we need.
