I don't need to tell you what happened in Paris and I don't need to pontificate to you about what's going on in the world. We're a music website. Let's talk about music and what's going on with concertgoers in the wake of this absolute nightmare.
The New York Times wrote an interesting article yesterday about how concertgoers might expect to see heightened security at concerts from now on and, in an interesting quote from Live Nation, the company confirms that assumption.
“The safety and security of our shows, fans and venues continues to be our highest priority,” the company said in a statement. “Due to the recent events in Paris and in an abundance of caution we have implemented heightened security procedures globally. However, because of the sensitive nature of these protocols, we cannot elaborate further on the specific details.”
Which makes sense- you don't want the people you're trying to stop knowing how you're going to try to stop the, right? However, Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni makes an unfortunately good counterpoint in the article.
“It’s only logical for major venues worldwide to have heightened security,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, a concert industry trade magazine. “But the truth is that there is only so much anyone can do to stop a wave of suicidal attackers.”
Despite that, I think the concert industry almost has to react at this point. Doing nothing would come off as straight up uncaring, so at the very least we know Live Nation is up to something. I'm sure other concert promoters are too, though where does this leave smaller tours and venues?
