Update: Shortly after publishing this story, Ice himself announced it was canceled. Full update at the end of the story.
Yesterday, Texas announced it's highest single-day amount of coronavirus cases at 8,076. And, while Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered a shut down of all the bars in the area, one planned show on July 4th weekend is still going on as planned – pop one hit wonder turned nu-metal no hit wonder Vanilla Ice will be playing the Emerald Point Bar & Grill in Austin tomorrow, Friday, July 3rd.
By the way, here's the flyer with a typo that says the show is happening "Wednesday, July 3rd"
The massive, multi-level venue has skirted local regulations because 51% of its sales come from food, and the Texas governor only ordered the shut down of bars and told restaurants they must reduce capacity to 50%.
The venue can hold up to 5,000 people but they told The Austin Chronicle they plan to to only admit 2,500.
Vanilla Ice seems all about it, posting on social media how he longs for the 90s, writing "I can’t wait to get back to this. The 90s were the best. We didn’t have coronavirus, or cell phones, or computers." [Note from editor, who lived through the 90s: computers and cellphones did in fact exist.]
Ice continued: "We had 5.0's, Blockbuster, Beavis and Butthead, Wayne’s World, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. And Mortal Kombat is still better than fortnight but we got out of the house, We danced, we invented house parties in the 90s. The last of the great decades."
He ends the cringeworthy status with the hashtag "#IMissThenineties" and showed footage of a concert with wall to wall people.
We have no idea if social distancing will be enforced, but if the show in Tennessee last weekend is any indication there will not be.
Health experts are still saying the best way to avoid catching the virus is avoiding large crowds, keeping at least six feet of distance and wearing a mask. Some proponents of these shows point to the ongoing Black Lives Matters protests as an excuse for why these should be allowed, but research has shown the protests have not lead to any uptick in coronavirus cases, with New York, where protests happen every day, being the prime example as the state has among the lowest cases in the nation.
If you want our advice, avoid this show at all costs. Not just because of coronavirus, but like… if you're going to risk your life, don't do it for Vanilla Ice.
Update: Ten minutes after posting, Vanilla Ice posted a video to Twitter, announcing the cancelation:
"Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we’re gonna move the concert to a better date. We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers by July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home."
Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we’re gonna move the concert to a better date. We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers by July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home. pic.twitter.com/MWWfNWf3zd
— Vanilla Ice (@vanillaice) July 2, 2020
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwlcDq8l4Ug][/youtube]
