2020 was a lean year for music festivals across the world, but with hope for normality returning, will we see them return in the near future?
It felt like just yesterday when I was enjoying sensational music in a live crowd setting. The energy of the artists and their performances could put one in a trance, forgetting about all of one’s worries and doubts. Music festivals have the power of bringing many different individuals together.
The atmosphere is infectious with loving spirits and people that simply want to have fun! It is safe to say that global music festivals are truly a necessity and a crucial cultural event.
With the promising summer heat approaching within the next couple of months, many eager music festival-goers are patiently waiting to hear if various musical concerts will proceed in their events.
COVID-19 has managed to transcend into the current year. After an uncertain year of quarantine and active cases increasing all around the globe, business, events, and careers have been postponed or completely deceased.
We Need Music Festivals!
Highly popularised musical festivals such as Coachella and Glastonbury have publicly shown their low optimism for their events to push forward prominently this summer of 2021.
After another cancellation for the second year in a row, the northern hemisphere of all things music and concerts overall maintains a cautious mindset to future (already promoted) events.
Discussed heavily by associate director of communications, Dominique Debucquoy-Dodly, the cultural event Burning Man, has yet to deny or confirm it’s happening for 2021 in Black Rock City, as the event was taking to the online hemisphere in 2020, pushing a strong fundraising campaign to keep the event happening for future years.
The historically festive Mardi Gras in New Orleans has altered the festivities with the halting of parade festivities.
Many persistent event-goers decorated their houses and apartments with Mardi Gras implementations to still spread some positive vibes in the once cheerful city.
Carnaval hailing for Rio has pushed their festivity efforts to July while other similar spring festivities in the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago are completely halted in 2021.
Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo’s lineup are still expected to be announced in late August early September.
Primavera Sound, a popular music event in Barcelona, Spain has yet to cancel its musical festivities.
So, what is truly going on for the global music festival market? With the increasing number of cases still growing throughout Europe and the USA, can large cultural events still be expected to happen?
Pushing For Reopening
According to Lonelyplanet.com, European music festivals are still pushing their efforts for happenings, events such as Lollapalooza Paris are still scheduled for June 17.
Some events are considering festival-goers access to watch concerts via live-stream if any event shall happen. Belgium’s biggest dance music festival Tomorrowland has yet to pull the plug on festivities, but overall live events will only depend on public health regulations.
Although many promising efforts have been implemented in the past month due to COVID-19 occurrences, there are still plenty of uncertainties regarding establishments and public events.
Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Mercedes Carnethon, proclaims that she would like to see the strong continuous use of face masks and low-capacity at large events.
This notion could mean the festivals could still happen, but tickets may be limited for refunded to shrink down the size of the public event.
Many researchers humbly agree that the implementation of vaccines is the main effective way of starting the summer festivities with a musical bang!
Permitting large events will only lead to further lockdowns and prolonging quarantines around the world.
A Music Artist’s Perspective
With such a high level of uncertainty, it’s easy for music festival-goers to seem doubtful or less hopeful for the musical happenings of summer 2021.
What about the artists themselves? From an artist’s perspective, it is hard to find various paying jobs through the pandemic.
With live performance spaces halting any activity, many artists are struggling to make a living.
However, it is my humble opinion that false hope of possible musical festivals will only negatively affect artists and individuals.
Although these times are tough and the individuals are becoming antsy with the readapting the ‘normal’ society, it will take all of us collectively to be patient and understanding of this historical and outrageous period.
Music festivals should simply cancel all events until it has been overwhelmingly unanimous by the health department.
This notion will only do companies and individuals good in the long run.
We must remain safe and healthy so that future summer music festivals can rock the globe!
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