Analysis

Dutch festivals such as Lowlands, Down the Rabbit Hole and Mysteryland, will not be permitted to take place this summer after the government extended its ban on multiday events until September.

The ban on non-seated public events and multiday festivals with more than 1,000 attendees came into effect on 10 July and was set to remain until 14

August, when the government would decide whether festivals after that date could go ahead.

However, the cabinet has sealed the fate of the summer season sooner than expected, ruling out multiday festivals until at least 1 September due to uncertainties surrounding the Delta variant of Covid.

The government’s tightening of restrictions comes in spite of Fieldlab’s findings from three months’ worth of pilot events in the Netherlands that show that the risk of Covid-19 infection, when following certain hygiene and testing protocols, is about the same as being at home.

Fieldlab is an initiative of the Dutch government and several trade bodies, including the Alliance of Event Builders.

More than 30 other event organisations including Event Warehouse/Paaspop, DGTL and F1 Dutch Grand Prix Zandvoort joined ID&T as co-plaintiffs in its legal proceedings against the Dutch government over the “carelessly prepared” restrictions.

The government may provide more clarity on Monday 2 August about the possibilities for oneday events without overnight stays.

Elsewhere, there will be no Pukkelpop this year after all, the festival announced, as a result of new government regulations that would have required it to almost triple its onsite testing capacity with less than a month to go until gates open.

Pukkelpop – the last remaining major international music festival in Belgium following the cancellation last month of Tomorrowland – has been told by the Belgian federal government it may not proceed this year in its current form, according to a statement from organisers.

The 66,000-cap festival would have taken place near Hasselt between 19 and 22 August with artists including Liam Gallagher, Editors, Future, Anne-Marie and Marshmello.

“The current framework has made it impossible for us to organise Pukkelpop,” say organisers. “The additional demands in terms of testing would require us to almost triple the testing capacity at, and in the run-up to the festival.”

The festival has initially planned for a daily Covid-19 testing capacity of 7,000. However, recent changes in the minimum time for festivalgoers to take rapid antigen (lateral-flow) and PCR tests ahead of the event, announced by the Belgian government on Monday, have finally rendered Pukkelpop 2021 unfeasible, the statement continues.

Pukkelpop statement

Hockenheimring has hosted numerous concerts over the decades © Marcel Ruf/Flickr

Live Nation confirmed that Theresa Velasquez, a senior vice president of strategic partnerships, lost her life in last month’s apartment block collapse in Miami. She was 36.

Police in Miami Dade county officially identified Velasquez on Saturday 17 July. She is one of at least 97 fatalities following the collapse of the 12-storey Champlain Towers South building on 24 June.

Velasquez was based in Live Nation’s Los Angeles headquarters, but had reportedly arrived in Miami just hours before the fatal incident, to visit her parents, Angela Maria, 60, and Julio L ive Nation GSA (Germany, Switzerland, Austria) is launching a German edition of Download Festival – the UK’s premiere rock event, promoted by Festival Republic.

Download Germany will take place on 24 June 2022 at the Hockenheimring, a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim, which Live Nation GSA head Marek Lieberberg has prior experience with.

Lieberberg’s former company Marek Lieberberg Konzertagentur (MLK) previously held Rock’n’Heim at the same location, in cooperation with Live Nation.

The festival took place annually from 2013 to 2015, welcoming around 40,000 fans across three days for the first two years. In 2015, the event was reduced to a one-day event.

At the time of writing, Download Germany has not announced any artists or released tickets for the 2022 event.

Download Germany will be the UK brand’s fourth sister event. Other sites are Download Australia, which would have debuted in 2020, Download Madrid, and Download France in Paris (both of which last took place in 2019).

Cesar Velasquez, 67, who had lived in apartment 304 at the Surfside condo for nearly a decade. Both Angela and Julio also died in the collapse.

In a statement, Live Nation said, “Our hearts break for the loss of our beloved Theresa Velasquez, her parents Angela and Julio, and everyone taken far too soon in the tragic accident in Surfside, FL.

“Theresa was an impassioned leader at Live Nation, who elevated every project she was part of, at the same time breaking down barriers for women and the LGBTQIA+ community. We will always remember and honour the impact she made and will miss her dearly.”

Penning his own tribute, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino tweeted that she was “a beloved friend, daughter, sister, and co-worker.”

She began her career in music as a nightclub DJ in Miami Beach and built a reputation that allowed her to tour internationally as a DJ and producer, performing at the likes of SuperMartXé in Madrid and Circuit Festival in Barcelona; Miami Beach’s White Party and Aqua Girl Miami; New York’s Electric Zoo and Mysteryland USA. She later teamed with Grammy-nominated DJ Hector Fonseca to start a music label, Audio4Play.

A graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Velasquez obtained a master’s degree in music business studies from New York University. Prior to joining Live Nation, six years ago, she worked for Sony Music and SFX Entertainment.

After more than a year of closure, the British live music industry was finally able to fully reopen without restrictions from 19 July.

Now, large events, such as music concerts and sporting events, can resume without any limits on attendance or social distancing requirements and attendees will no longer be legally required to wear a face mask.

Following ‘Freedom Day,’ hundreds of thousands of music fans flocked to open-air venues across the UK last weekend (25-25 July) for the country’s first big festival weekend since the summer of 2019.

Festival Republic’s Latitude and Superstruct-backed Tramlines, both 40,000-capacity, Broadwick Live’s Standon Calling (15,000-cap) and Alexandra Palace’s Kaleidoscope (10,000-cap) were among the events to take advantage of Covid-status certification – ie requiring proof of vaccine or a negative Covid-19 test from attendees – to do away with social distancing and create the first “normal” festival experiences of the coronavirus era.

While the two biggest events were held as government-backed pilots as part of the Events Research Programme (ERP), all four festivals implemented some form of pre-event screening for Covid-19 status: Latitude, Tramlines and Kaleidoscope used the NHS (National Health Service) Covid Pass app to check festivalgoers were either fully vaccinated or had returned a negative test, while Standon Calling went a step further, requiring a negative test even if attendees had received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Latitude took place from 22 to 25 July at Henham Park in Suffolk with performers including Bastille, Wolf Alice, The Chemical Brothers and Bombay Bicycle Club.

Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn told local media that the stringent entry requirements meant the Latitude site was “close to being the safest place in England” last weekend, with even performers not able to bypass the checks (two acts, Fontaines D.C. and Alfie Templeman, were forced to cancel after testing positive and were replaced by Sleaford Mods and Sports Team, respectively).

The first festival most of those in attendance had been to since 2019, the same applied to many of the event’s staff; Benn told the BBC he knew of technicians and support staff who had been “breaking down in tears” that they were able to work again after 16 months of minimal event activity.

In Hertfordshire, popular boutique event Standon Calling made a welcome return from 22 to 25 July, planning four days of family-friendly fun headlined by Bastille, Hot Chip, Primal Scream and Craig David’s TS5.

Though it, too, successfully navigated Covid-19 to go ahead as planned, the festival came to an abrupt end yesterday after organisers were forced to pull the plug due to the flash flooding that had left much of southern England underwater.

Also taking part in the ERP was Tramlines, which welcomed 40,000 people a day to Hillsborough Park in Sheffield from 23 to 25 July.

In further good news for England, international performers who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in the United States or European Union will no longer need to quarantine after entering the country from Monday 2 August, the British government has announced.

The change, which comes into force at 4am BST on 2 August, will see the replacement of mandatory quarantine with a single Covid-19 test before departing their country of origin and a PCR test on the second day after their arrival in England. The new rules apply to all countries rated ‘amber’ for coronavirus risk, with the exception of travelers from France, who will still be required to quarantine.

In addition to the pre-departure test, arrivals from the US will also need to provide proof of US residency.

To take advantage of the changes, artists will need to have taken a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency or the US Food and Drug Administration (ie Pfizer/BioNTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson) and been vaccinated in either the EU or US.

The Chemical Brothers were one of Latitude 2021’s headline acts © Emily Marchoveccio

As governments across Europe implement or consider enforcing ‘Covid passes’ or ‘passports’ as a condition of entry to concerts and other indoor events, there’s been a mixed response from the live industry.

Since 21 July, concertgoers in France are required to show a Pass Sanitaire before entering any venue over 50-capacity. The digital or paper document proves the holder has either had a negative Covid test recently or had both vaccinations (or one in the case of single-dose vaccines.)

For events with more than 1,000 attendees, this law has been in place since May. Angelo Gopee, general manager of Live Nation France, says the tightening of the rules means additional work for venues, security and staff.

“We have a festival this weekend in Fontainbleu with 2,500 people per night for seated shows. We have put in place a Covid control point before security, so people can show their Pass Sanitaire. It’s not ideal, but there’s nothing else we can do for now.

“I think people should see this move as an opportunity to see more concerts.”

AEG Presents France GM and VP, Arnaud Meersseman tells IQ: “There were protests against the Pass Sanitaire – I think about 100,000 people across 20 cities came out, but polling shows 62% of people approve of the pass.

“There has been some moaning in the industry about the potential impact on ticket sales because it adds another layer of friction for the customer at a time when the sector has been hit hard already. But I don’t agree. I think this is the best way to get back to business and to nudge people into getting their vaccinations. It will take a while to come into play and it’s very new, but because people have to use this pass for transport and to go to restaurants, I think it will soon become second nature.”

In the UK, the government insists it will push ahead with plans for vaccine passes. Prime minister Boris Johnson announced that from September people will have to prove they have had both vaccinations as a condition of entry to nightclubs, venues, and other crowded indoor settings.

Phil Bowdery, chair of the Concert Promoters Association told IQ: “With September only a few months away, what the live music sector urgently needs from government is clarity, details and guidelines. Any new proposals should be designed primarily to make venues as safe as possible, which is why we are surprised that testing seems to have fallen away given the entire Event Research Programme was based on that.

“We are also crystal clear that there must be fairness in how this is applied. Small music venues – the same size as many pubs, restaurants and other hospitality businesses, which are likely not to be affected by this policy – must not be treated any differently when it comes to the need for proof-of-vaccine certification.”

In Austria, people have to show proof of a negative Covid test or of being fully vaccinated before attending venues, bars theatres and other indoor spaces. The country offers free tests at drop-in centres. Other countries, such as Italy and Ireland, are considering implementing similar protocols for indoor events.

In Belgium, the federal government has launched its Covid Safe Ticket (CTS), a domestic health pass that will certify the Covid-19 status of attendees to major entertainment and sports events.

The CTS may be used for events of over 1,500 people to certify that all attendees are either fully vaccinated or have returned a negative Covid-19 test in the previous 48 hours. The pass, originally planned to be introduced on 1 July, will apply to outdoor events from 13 August and indoor events from 1 September.

While the ‘safe ticket’ eliminates the need for social distancing, promoters must implement a crowd management plan, as well as ensuring adequate ventilation (in the case of indoor shows), which is measured by a CO2 meter, according to the Belgian government.

Covid Safe Tickets are not mandatory – event organisers are free to put on shows without them – but non-safe ticketed events must comply with social distancing regulations and ensure all guests wear a mask, according to Flemish prime minister Jan Jambon.

Phil Bowdery | Chair of the Concert Promoters Association