The live music industry has made various headlines over the past few months. From Arkansas scheduling their first socially-distant concert to Live Nation announcing their plans for drive-in concerts, a lot has happened since the coronavirus pandemic began. Now, a new health and safety guide is announcing what changes will have to be made once live events resume. This includes a temporary ban on moshing and crowdsurfing.
In a new guide released this week, the nonprofit Event Safety Alliance is sharing what live event regulations will have to happen once the pandemic is under control.
Earlier this month, Live Nation’s CEO Michael Rapino reported that they don’t anticipate large scale live events to return until mid to late 2021. However, Rapino did say the experimentation to bring back smaller events could happen as early as this autumn.
If these claims are true, future concerts may be very different as countries begin to phase out of coronavirus lockdown.
Event Safety Alliance is sharing the restrictions and regulations they believe will have to be incorporated into future live events. Steven Adelman and Jacob Worek of the Event Safety Alliance have spoken with over 400 promoters, caterers, Ticketmaster employees and more to put together this new health and safety regulations guide.
The 29-page Event Safety Alliance guide goes over regulations for venues and promoters to consider when live events resume. Included in the long list of regulations is sanitizing practices and handling staff and guest illnesses. There are also regulations ticket holders will have to follow especially for general admission events.
“A few obvious changes will be necessary whenever GA events do reopen,” the guide states. “Patrons cannot all stand at the front of the stage like they are accustomed; moshing and crowdsurfing are violations of social distancing per se and must be absolutely prohibited during this pandemic.”
Once events and concerts resume, a number of practices cannot take place. For mosh pit residents and crowdsurfers worldwide, it may be a while before you can return to your normal gig habits.
The guide also discusses other safety measures including staggering entry times into venues, contactless merch ordering and more. The full guide from the Event Safety Alliance is available to read here.
The release of this guide comes just days after Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson announced that the state’s scheduled social distancing concert this week does not follow health and safety protocols. Despite this, the Travis McCready concert is still scheduled to take place on May 15.
Last week, Live Nation announced plans to try fanless broadcasts and drive-in concerts. This would require concert goers to stay in their cars, but would still be able to watch live performances. Electronic artist Marc Rebillet also recently announced his plans for a drive-in tour where his opening acts are films. Rebillet plans for the tour to happen in June.