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Europe Testing Its Way Back To Normality
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images – The audience at a test concert of French rock band Indochine and French DJ Etienne de Crecy at Accor Arena Paris, France, May 29.
While the U.S. is getting ready for a full-fledged return of live in these coming months, most of Europe is still testing health risks posed by social gatherings. Meanwhile, the UK’s target date for lifting all coronavirus-related restrictions is on shaky grounds.
The more cautious approach across the pond may have to do with the slower rate at which people are getting vaccinated in Europe when compared to the U.S. While concrete numbers are hard to come by, it becomes apparent in conversations with local promoters that vaccination coverage differs from country to country. Serbia, for instance, is by its own admission a worldwide leader in mass vaccination.
As such, the country’s prime minister Ana Brnabic wants to open the country fully back up by June 21. Thus, Exit Festival Serbia was one of the first major European events to announce that it would go ahead this summer, July 8-11 – for all those, who have been fully vaccinated, are able to prove the presence of antibodies or take a rapid antigen test close to the festival site in Novi Sad.
Marko Edge Obradovic – The spectacular site of Exit Festival: Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Organizers are confident the festival will go ahead this year.
The festival, alongside Serbia’s ministry of health, even offered free vaccinations for 1,500 of its international visitors and performers, who had to apply by June 11. Whether Exit 2021 will indeed go ahead at its full capacity of some 56,000 visitors per day remains to be seen, depending on the coronavirus situation in the country closer to the July date.
June 21, which marks this year’s summer solstice in Europe, is also the target date given by the UK government for removing all restrictions on social gatherings. The date has been the beacon of hope for the entire events and hospitality sector throughout the past months.
But the country’s prime minister Boris Johnson and health secretary Matt Hancock remain open to delaying this final and most crucial part of the country’s so-called “roadmap out of lockdown,” depending on developments regarding coronavirus.
This wavering course has caused composer legend Andrew Lloyd Webber to give an exclusive interview to The Daily Telegraph, in which he announced that he intends to open his London West End theaters on June 21 “come hell or high water.” He even said that he’d risk going to jail for it, adding, “theaters are completely safe, the virus is not carried there. If the government ignore their own science, we have the mother of all legal cases against them.”
He was referring to the UK government’s Events Research Program, which has been holding pilot events of various genres and capacities since April, in order to find out whether live events pose a greater risk of spreading coronavirus than any other activity that causes large groups of people to come together in confined spaces, like shopping or traveling via airports and planes, for instance.
This year’s BRIT Awards at London’s O2 Arena were part of the program, taking place with a live audience of 4,000 seated indoors. The FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium hosted 21,000 seated, outdoors, May 15. Festival Republic promoted a one-day festival at Liverpool’s Sefton Park, May 2, where 5,000 visitors, who tested negatively beforehand, were allowed on site.
Pollstar reached out to the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which oversees the Events Research Program, but it wasn’t ready to share details on the pilots at press time.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images – Concert-goers enjoy a non-socially distanced outdoor live music event at Sefton Park on May 2, 2021 in Liverpool, England.
The event was part of the UK’s Events Research Program, and featured indie band Blossoms, The Lathums and Liverpool singer-songwriter Zuzu, who performed in front of a crowd of 5,000.
News reports from Liverpool, however, confirmed that at least the events in the local area had “no impact” on virus spread. The Liverpool Echo, for instance, concluded, “the public health and science teams are cautiously optimistic that events can reopen reasonably safely with effective testing in place.”
This confirms what other countries have been finding after running their own scientific experiments. The results of a test concert conducted with 1,500 participants at Germany’s Quarterback Immobilien Arena in Leipzig, Aug. 22, 2020, for example, showed that events could take place safely indoors, as long as the venue in question has adequate ventilation.
Spain has been conducting a series of successful test events, the latest being a concert with 5,000 people at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Only six concert attendees were diagnosed positive within 14 days after the concert, which could have various reasons. Following these findings, the organizers of Cruïlla festival in Barcelona announced that this year’s edition would go ahead with a tested and masked audience, but no restrictions on it 25,000-per-day capacity, July 8-10.
Some of the most recent test events include a series of limited-capacity test concerts at Rockhal Luxembourg, the last of which went down June 4. The audience got tested prior to and after the concerts, in order to provide the local health authorities with the data necessary to allow the “step-by-step return of concerts,” according to a press release from Rockhal.
Meanwhile, in Paris, May 29 saw a 5,000-capacity concert by Indochine take place at Accor Arena in Paris, France. Attendees, as well as a control group of 2,500 that stayed at home, agreed to take three coronavirus tests in total, which will be evaluated in the coming days.