The concert industry has been hurting over the last four months or so as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to halt live music around the world. While many agree that 2021 is when shows will begin to pick up again, at least one insider thinks it could be much later.
In a recent appearance on ‘The Bob Lefsetz Podcast,’ Lollapalooza co-founder and former William Morris Entertainment global head of music Marc Geiger said that he believes concerts might not return until 2022.
“It’s going to take that long before, what I call, the germaphobic economy is slowly killed off and replaced by the claustrophobia economy — that’s when people want to get out and go out to dinner and have their lives, go to festivals and shows,” says Geiger.
“It’s my instinct that it’s going to take a while because super-spreader events — sports, shows, festivals, etc. — aren’t going to do too well when the virus is this present.”
Geiger also claims that liability will be an issue for shows. He says that there is no “insurance for COVID currently offered,” and that “there’s infinite liability” when it comes to people claiming that they could have contracted the virus from a show.
He also talks about touring and how halting the industry for two years is going to affect the economy. “The next six months may be more painful than the last six months, and maybe the next six months after that are even more so.”
The full podcast can be heard here.
Cases of COVID-19 have been on the rise over the last month in a majority of states across the country. The US has now reached over three million cases with an average of 66,400 new cases reported daily.
Companies have been trying to come up with different ways to bring live music back at a safe distance during the pandemic, including drive-in concerts (which Geiger called a gimmick during the podcast) and socially-distanced shows.
