Viewing music during the time of Covid-19 has proved a lot of challenges, but has not stopped live music from happening still. Many musicians have been finding different outlets to perform such as drive-in shows, Twitch and many more streaming services. While those are all great ways to keep the fans intrigued and engaged, it still does not provide the same atmosphere at a “normal” concert or festival. This hasn’t only steered fans away from attending shows, but it has even turned out that a lot of artists did not find that these kinds of shows do justice for their music and fans. For this reason, along with many others, there are a lot of musicians who have not performed at all during these times. 

One example of an artist feeling as if he has lost a platform was Liam McGinnis, a Junior Music Business major at Bradley University. Liam has not performed any shows(where he was hired to play) since New Years Eve 2019 going into 2020. When asked how not playing shows for fans has been for him, Liam said, “It has been one of the hardest obstacles I have had to overcome. Music is everything to me. It has been stressful to say the least, but the drive for me to get back out there is making it all worth it in the end.” 

Pictured: Liam McGinnis playing his guitar in front of Bradley Hall

Through all of this as well, some musicians are being heavily criticized for having non-socially distanced events and have seen people not wearing masks at the show. One example where this happened is when Ghastly performed a show in Orlando, Florida in the midst of a pandemic. While the show was not technically breaking guidelines for the state, it was a bad look for EDM music as a whole. After attending a show put on by the same artist, Matthew Fernandez, a Bradley Junior said, “I felt safe going to the show and I felt safe while I was in there as well. I had the urge to go to a show, so I did. If people don’t feel safe going to shows or going out in general, they don’t have to.”

Here is an example of what a drive-in would look like. Cars parked facing the stage, full sound system and a socially distanced/safe crowd.

Shows will be coming back in full swing towards the end of this summer and this is backed up by festivals selling tickets for this year. In addition these festivals are getting a lot of the artists who did not want to perform drive-ins, etc. A lot of these artists have come out saying that they feel the shows will happen and they are willing to play as long as everyone is safe. I believe that one of the main reasons why there is such a positive outlook on these festivals happening is due to the Covid-19 vaccine being available to all citizens over the age of 16. 

Pictured: A group of friends at a live show(what we all hope to get back to one day)

While having vaccines readily available, this does not help some fan’s cases. There has been a lot of backlash towards companies who have come out and stated that they may require proof of vaccination to attend festivals or shows. Not every citizen will get the vaccine and this could cause large issues in the future while dealing with concerts and festivals. 

Pictured above is Will Werner, a sophomore at Bradley University, who is hopefully to go to shows/festivals in the coming months.

While interviewing someone who wanted to remain anonymous, they said, “I want to be able to attend shows this summer and in the future, but I am not willing to get the Covid-19 vaccine. I have tickets to festivals this summer and fall, but if they require proof of vaccination you will not see me in attendance.” This music fan will not be the only person feeling this way. I have heard through the grapevine that many people are in the same boat. 

Above is a statement from North Coast Music Festival about it’s festival happening over Labor Day weekend 2021.

Coming back for shows to be in full swing, there will need to be massive improvements in many people’s eyes. For the music scene to continue thriving, these changes will need to be made and continued. Covid-19 has thrown a wrench in many music plans for 2020-2021, but it will not go away easily. At this point in time, fans can only hope for the best for live music in the coming months.

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