When touring comes back in a post-COVID-19 world, it's going to be a little weirder. Possibilities range from drive-in shows to socially distanced shows, to even wearing a really insane hazmat suit. Another possibility is opening small venues first and then re-assessing the situation. Clutch drummer Jean-Paul Gaster is down with that, and said in a recent interview with Talk Toomey that it would also be nice to help smaller venues get back on their feet.
"Sure. I think that’s probably a good possibility. I was actually thinking about that myself the other day, maybe that’s one way to sort of get things going again. These little venues I think are going to be the first ones that open up. And we’re going to learn how to do shows again by going back to these smaller venues and working through this stuff. And I think it’ll be great too, because it’s as nice as it is to play a big venue. Every town has to have a small venue, you need those little places for those fans to get out there and cut their teeth. And so by getting back into those smaller rooms, hopefully it’ll inject a little bit of energy into them as well. And you know, hopefully we all come out of this thing a little better than when we went into it."
It'd be awesome to see bigger bands play smaller venues to start things off, though financial viability is also probably a concern. It'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out and how everyone learns from everyone else as we're going along. It's a weird world right now.
