About a year ago, Muligo posted a blog about the end of the world, or that’s the way it seemed for the summer concert business. The pandemic wiped out concert tours of major acts, leaving fans desperate for live entertainment during the long, hot summer of 2020. So while the big-name acts were cooling their heels at their private islands and palatial estates to escape the contagion, the pandemic provided an opportunity for lesser-known artists to brave playing before a masked audience in socially distanced venues. Music did indeed fill the air, and it didn’t cost patrons an amount similar to a monthly car payment.
Eventually, some major acts grew tired of living in oblivion and embraced technology to perform again, not on elaborate stages but scrunched together in their bedrooms or basements. So amid the darkened arenas and other traditional concert venues, musicians, one by one, jumped on online streaming platforms to quench fans’ thirst for live music, even if it wasn’t an in-person event. And, in some cases, it wasn’t actually a “live” event but a pre-recorded one. In the beginning, they asked for donations for their performances. But as time passed, the big acts rolled in and required pay-for-play for streamed shows. Gotta make a living somehow, right?
The live shows with an in-person audience were mostly performed by second-tier bands and solo artists at makeshift drive-ins, cornfields, or anywhere outside where people could listen to music without standing in shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. But it was really the cover bands that saved the day. No sign of Dead & Company or The Rolling Stones? No problem, there were scores of their tribute bands and others who played under big tents and other places requiring fans to only don masks and stay at least six feet apart, though many tired of these COVID-19 safety protocols as the pandemic wore on. OK, so they’re not the real thing, but these bands filled the bill for live entertainment, and many amazingly matched the musical skills of the bands they copied.
Fast forward to Spring 2021. It went from famine to feast, as more people rolled up their sleeves to get jabbed with covid vaccinations, giving the green light for concert promoters, record companies, musical acts, and their crews, and others in the music biz to launch once-abandoned tour schedules. Since then, there has been a blitzkrieg of concerts hitting fans from all directions. Many of those pandemic-shuttered venues are now open or will soon be for business, complete with sky-high ticket prices that many fans will shrug off just to see their favorite band in the flesh–even if they can only watch them on big screens. Lately, Concert promoters have been bombarding social media platforms with flashy announcements on upcoming music festivals and other shows that virtually cover every date on the summer calendar. It’s reached a point that there will be so many choices for live entertainment on any given night that fans will be forced to decide which band to see. It may also create live music fatigue, as fans become overwhelmed with more live music they can cope with, or afford.
We’re not blaming the artists for this situation, as it’s quite understandable that they are hungry to perform before live audiences and also have mouths to feed. But what is of concern is those major acts or their management exploiting music fans’ appetite for live music by gouging ticket prices, not that’s anything new. What will be interesting to see is how many live music fans take the bait and pay outrageous sums to see major acts touring this summer. But the traditional concert venues will have to face some competition this time around.
Concert venue operators must be a little nervous knowing there is now a glut of inventory on the market, places that expanded or added spaces to accommodate live music-starved fans during the outbreak. Restaurants and bars pitched tents in parking lots and streets to host live music acts, while other unconventional venues like drive-ins, farmland, parks, beaches, caves, even people’s backyards picked up the slack for live entertainment. Will this be an ongoing trend or will everything go back to normal in our post-pandemic lives? My guess is the latter since people tend to have short memories and will do anything to block out negative ones. Oh well, it was cheap fun while it lasted.