Staying Fit
Dust off those earplugs and dig out the credit cards. Live concerts are coming back.
Rock ‘n’ roll highway stars who idled in neutral last year are revving up tours that had been scrapped by the pandemic. New treks are in the works as well. After a long dry spell, fans could be facing a boom in boomer acts at arenas, theaters and stadiums from spring through the end of the year.
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The dry spell cost the live events industry dearly — more than $30 billion in revenue in 2020, according to the concert trade publication Pollstar. Before COVID-19 shut down stages, the business was on track to rake in record-setting receipts.
COVID-19 takes a toll on rock ‘n’ roll
"The pandemic hit the busiest months, starting in the early spring, and it meant a year of no income for artists, crews, promoters, agents,” says Dave Brooks, Billboard's senior director of touring. “The question was, can you make it for a year without money? A lot couldn't. A large contingency of people left the business and won't be coming back."
"The concert business was more conservative than a lot of industries,” he says. “There was no push to have concerts while the pandemic was raging. They knew that not guaranteeing safety would have long-term negative consequences. They've done a good job of patiently waiting.” While many venues, mostly clubs and theaters, closed across the country, others were rescued by funding through the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program and Save Our Stages Act.
"It could have been a lot worse,” Brooks says. “At the beginning of the pandemic, 90 percent of venue [operators] thought they would have to close. That number is actually under 10 percent. People found ways to generate some income, through streaming shows, by renegotiating leases. They did whatever they had to do."
Vaccines to the rescue
The biggest booster shot? Vaccines. Anthony Fauci, M.D., chief medical adviser to President Biden and longtime infectious disease expert, told the New York Times he expects a return to concerts in the fall, once herd immunity is achieved through extensive vaccinations.
"By the time we get to the early-to-mid fall,” Fauci said, “you can have people feeling safe performing onstage, as well as people in the audience."