Will We Have to Wait Until 2021 for Concerts?

Most acts who had to postpone spring dates have shifted them to this fall, but one expert believes we won’t be attending any shows until fall of next year.

The New York Times did a roundtable discussion with a panel of health experts, and Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a special adviser to the World Health Organization, said that he doesn’t think it will be safe to have concerts, sporting events and other big public gatherings for another 18 months.

Emanuel explained, “Restarting the economy has to be done in stages, and it does have to start with more physical distancing at a work site that allows people who are at lower risk to come back. Certain kinds of construction, or manufacturing or offices, in which you can maintain six-foot distances are more reasonable to start sooner.”

And now the bad news. “Larger gatherings — conferences, concerts, sporting events — when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility. I think those things will be the last to return. Realistically we’re talking fall 2021 at the earliest. Restaurants where you can space tables out, maybe sooner.”