In the midst of all of the announcements of the return of music festivals more and more tour announcements have started to emerge. While many regularly scheduled summertime festivals are being moved to this Fall, the return of concerts are happening a bit earlier depending on where you are and the COVID-19 guidelines there. Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado for instance has already housed some shows at a lower capacity of 2,500 and is is hoping they'll be at 100% sometime mid Summer. Their roster looks promising already with Diplo, The Floozies, Tennis and Ben Harper playing there this month alone. The Bluenote in Hawaii welcomed En Vouge on April 24th and 25th with COVID protocols in place including but not limited to mandatory masks and temperature check upon arrival. Next up they have Plain White T's playing two shows on May 20th-22nd, chee hoo Delilah.
In the last couple weeks there's been tour announcements from Big Freedia, Japanese Breakfast, IDLES, Soccer Mommy, Shakey Graves, K-Flay, Rise Against and just today Sylvan Esso announced their upcoming Shaking Out the Numb Tour.
The name of the tour comes from lyrics plucked from "Numb" a new song from their 2020 album Free Love and is further aptly named since we're breaking out of covid quarantine hibernation. Sylvan Esso is kicking things off with a set at Bonnaroo (which has been moved from June to September this year) then they'll be on the road until November. Their return to the Bay Area is on September 9th with Local Natives at The Greek Theater in Berkeley.
Sleigh Bells also announced today the rescheduled date for their 10th Anniversary of TREATS show. The NYC based duo will play their debut album cover to cover on September 9th at Webster Hall in New York (their trailblazing album TREATS was released on May 11th, 2010 see the tie in?).
And for all of you Phish heads out there, Phish announced 2021 tour dates today, too!
Apart from the fact that festivals are out door events, concerts should be inherently easier to manage COVID compliancy at because their attendance size is naturally smaller.
Returning to shows is one component of that new normal everyone's been buzzing about: every concert and every venue in every city will have different protocols and enforce them differently (even if they're following the same protocols). Now going to show entails finding out what the guidelines are for that show beforehand much in the same way that has to be done when traveling to/from certain places.
Right now not all music festivals and music venues are advertising their protocols or outlining how they plan to keep attendees safe. As is the approach many take with COVID, some festival websites are highlighting that you presume the risk of exposure when you decide to do certain activities, that is if COVID is mentioned at all. More information regarding festival and venue specific protocols should be available as the show dates approach. Knowing the latest CDC guidelines along with state and county mandates before heading to a show, or festival, these days will aid in your enjoyment of the show while keeping yourself and everyone around you safe.
