Spring and Summer are known for being concert seasons. As school comes to close many people look forward to the concert season because it is time to hang out with friends while listening to your favorite artists. But what once was concert season is now quarantine season. Due to the increasing rates of deaths and infections in the United States, businesses are forced to close, events with large gatherings are canceled and families are asked to stay quarantined for not only weeks but months. This means concerts are postponed. Some of these postponed concerts include Billie Ellish, Cardi B, Coachella, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Khalid, Lady Gaga and many more.
Concerts might not only be postponed but it is more than possible that they are all canceled. Health officials announced that concerts might not even be possible until fall of 2021, Zeke Emanuel, director of the Healthcare Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania says, “Larger gatherings — conferences, concerts, sporting events — when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility.”
Kpop boy group, BTS, was supposed to kick off their North American tour, Map Of The Soul, this month. Dates included Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando, New Jersey, Washington and Chicago making it their biggest tour in North America selling out 7 of the stops. “We are closely monitoring and following the guidance of all local governments regarding public events to ensure we are providing a safe environment for everyone involved as we continue to update our tour plans,” mentioned Big Hit Entertainment.
COVID-19 did not only ruin the plans of the concert season but also the plans of album releases. Lady Gaga’s, Chromatica, was set to be released on April 10 but was later decided to be delayed to December. “It doesn’t feel right to release this album with all that is going on during this global pandemic,” says Lady Gaga in an Instagram post. Girl group, Blackpink, had their last album release a year ago in April 2019. Their company, YG Entertainment, promised fans a new album from Blackpink in February 2020 but due to the pandemic, it has been delayed to May or June. In YG Entertainment’s statement to Blackpink fans, “Blackpink’s long-awaited comeback has reportedly been pushed back to the middle of the second quarter of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Outside of concerts lies Broadway shows and festivals. Coachella, one of the largest music festivals that bring in over 250,000 people, has also been postponed from April to October. Broadway shows have even taken a halt until April 12 as a precaution due to COVID-19, “Our top priority has been and will continue to be the health and well-being of Broady theatergoers and the thousands of people who work in the theatre industry every day” says Charlotte St. Martin, the President of the Broadway League.
When will we be able to attend concerts and will we have to wait until the fall of 2021 to enjoy our favorite artists’ live? Hopefully artists and performers will finally be able to be back on the stage sooner than later. The longer this pandemic rides out, the longer we will have to wait to enjoy concerts, broadway shows and music festivals. Stay inside and stay safe.
Leave a Reply