Live music is about to awaken from its lockdown slumber Down Under. From next week, Live Nation will test a weekly series of socially distanced concerts and comedy events in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. The Together Again shows will start next Friday (May 29) and Saturday (May 30) at The Tuning Fork in central Auckland, part of Spark Arena (formerly Vector Arena) with a rotating line-up of local artists and comedians. The concerts giant is “excited to be welcoming back live events in New Zealand,” comments Live Nation New Zealand chairman Stuart Clumpas in a statement, issued Tuesday (May 19). Supported by Vodafone, the gigs are an “opportunity for us to unite and celebrate the power of live with some of the country’s first socially distanced shows,” he continues. Performers acros...
If you’ve been anxiously awaiting when you could go back out and see some live music — Missouri and Arkansas withstanding — here’s some hope. During an earnings call with investors on Thursday (May 7), Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said that the promotions giant is aiming to get things back to normal at the beginning of 2021. In the interim, like Travis McCready’s upcoming concert in Arkansas shows, there will be several stages of steady rollouts before things get back to normal that will take place over the next six months. “So over the next six months, we’ll be starting slow and small, focusing on the basics and testing regionally. But whether it’s in Arkansas or [another] state that is safe, secure and politically fine to proceed in, we’re going to dabble in fan-less concerts with...
The impact of COVID-19 effectively quashed the live concert industry, sending its artists, managers, agents, and promoters into a professional tailspin in the process. Their dealings have since migrated to the virtual music livestreaming landscape, which is becoming more and more robust with each passing day as major players in the industry, Like Twitch, Facebook, and SoundCloud, push their chips to the middle of the table. Due to social distancing ordinances and concerns about the health of patrons, the live music industry has remained dormant despite unwavering and incessant requests by venue owners to reopen amid crushing financial losses. Nevertheless, country-rock singer and Bishop Gunn frontman Travis McCready is primed to host the world’s first-ever socially distance...