Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino believes that concerts can resume sometime toward the middle of this summer.
Variety reports that Rapino said on a call last Thursday that he believes festivals in the United States "can start in midsummer and in the southern U.S. we can go all the way into November." This is partially in line with what Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said recently, about concerts coming back this fall.
"Every day we seem to have a new state or country talking about when they’ll open up, so we’re feeling more optimistic than we were a month ago," said Rapino.
"Lots of artists are calling, looking at how we start up in July, August, September. So for right now, we still believe we’ll have enough open in the U.K., Australia, Canada and the U.S. to keep what we have on the books in amphitheaters booked for now. 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.” He added, “So as long as these states open up to the right capacities."
The United States currently has about 15% of its population on the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 7.1% on their first dose.
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview that he believed vaccines in the U.S. may provide enough herd immunity to allow live music to resume this fall.
"If everything goes right, this is will occur some time in the fall of 2021," Fauci said, "so that by the time we get to the early to mid-fall, you can have people feeling safe performing onstage as well as people in the audience."
In England, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a four step plan to detail how they will ease the lockdown. The plan included a provision that night clubs could open as soon as June 21st to begin "large" live events.
Outdoor entertainment can resume as soon as May 17th with 4,000 people or 50% capacity. Outdoor seated events would be allowed up to 10,000 people or 25% capacity.
The final phase of lockdown lifting would be as soon as June 21st and would have no legal limits on gathering and allow night clubs to open. More details here.
