The Future of Music Festivals (Post Covid-19)

This year isn't going the way that I anticipated. I envisioned myself experiencing multiple music festivals this year. I've had such transformative experiences at countless festivals-from The Vans Warped Tour, Ozzfest, Lightning in a Bottle, and many others. My experiences at festivals have been some of the most memorable, immersive, and life-changing times in my life-from connecting with friends and strangers in new ways to living a multi-sensory adventure of music through a creatively-fueled environment full of wonder. However, amid the waves of pandemic sweeping across the whole world we have seen virtually all festivals postpone or cancel until next year.

Coachella and Stagecoach have been rescheduled for October, and now it has again been postponed until April 2021-and even that is still up in the air since there is no general consensus on how to deal with this issue. Will vaccines be mandatory for being allowed entrance into an event? Will people be allowed in if they sign a waiver? How will social distancing be enforced? How will this impact the social climate of music festivals in the future?

I forsee two polar extremes on the scale for the new "normal." Some people will go to festivals wearing a face mask (or on the high-end, a Micrashell) for the majority of the experience. On the other extreme will be people foregoing the hassle of a face-mask because they value connections and communal festival experiences rather than choosing to live in a perpetual state of fear or dread. Countless people are still going to want to hug, dance, and mosh with friends and strangers.  And of course there will be people who will play a balancing act with the two polar opposites of this new way of living. Who is right? Are we risking the health of people going? What is the appropriate measure we should be taking? There's no easy answer to this. 

I'm longing for the opportunity again to gather with my friends at music festivals where we can connect, embrace, and create experiences that will incite massive change in the consciousness of humans. Festivals have such tremendous power of sparking radically positive change in the hearts and minds of humanity. It brings people together in novel and memorable ways that inspire growth, creativity, and community in more ways than people initially realize. I don't want a future where concerts and festivals are confined to the limits of "social-distancing," which inevitably leads to an influx of fear, hostility, and disconnection. Will this further the divide with people, or will this somehow instill a stronger bond for connection and festival experiences? Now, more than ever, people are yearning for human connection and live music. I feel it won't be a seamless transition to the new "normal." There will be opposition and disinformation. Not everyone will have the right answers initially. There will be major setbacks. The live music experience will be altered in some ways because of this pandemic. But I'm holding my head up high for everyone to pull through and to make live music even more of a powerfully immersive experience than it already has been. We will have to learn to be patient with this transition and do our best to adapt. 

What do you believe is the future of live music?