NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News
The CEO of LiveNation has said that he expects large-scale US concerts to resume this summer.
Michael Rapino made the comments in during Live Nation’s Q4 2020 earnings call last week, saying that he based them on conversations with governors in key US states.
He said: “a clear outline to a 75 per cent to 100 per cent” capacity for outdoor US events in 2021 was looking likely to be green-lit” [via MusicBusinessWorldwide].
Rapino said that 75 per cent capacity was “within sight”, adding that he thinks “we’re better off waiting for a high bar capacity moment in most of the states to ramp up and talk to the artists about getting paid properly”.
The LiveNation CEO’s comments came days after the UK government announced a proposed roadmap out of the current coronavirus lockdown, revealing that gigs and festivals could return without social distancing measures by June 21 at the earliest.
In response, LiveNation subsidiary Festival Republic put up 100,000 tickets for Reading and Leeds festival, scheduled for August 27-29, of which all tickets to Reading have now sold out. Parklife Festival and Green Man Festival have also announced plans to go ahead.
Rapino added: “We might have certain states that might not be ready, but we have enough states and enough artists willing to play the open slots if we get to that level in the right markets. So as long as these states open up to the right capacities, we can start in midsummer and in the southern US we can go all the way into November.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 75.2 million vaccinations have been administered in the US to date. More than 20 million doses have now been given to people in the UK.
The post LiveNation boss says large-scale outdoor US gigs should start “in midsummer” appeared first on NME | Music, Film, TV, Gaming & Pop Culture News.
