Some of the UK’s biggest venues are hoping that concerts may soon be able to go ahead in accordance with Government changes regarding social distancing measures. Puza Snigdha reports.
Craig Hassall, the Chief Executive at the Royal Albert Hall, has been talking to Mirror Online regarding a new potential strategy to ensure that fans are able to attend concerts safely. They also discussed how they have taken some of their initial ideas from South Korea, where venues were able to continue to operate during the pandemic.
Here are some comments from the recent interview:
- “We’ve asked the government to look at how venues in other countries have been operating, and the checks and balances they have put in place instead of blanket social distancing guidelines,” said Hassall and added, “The test case in Seoul – where a Phantom of the Opera production has continued running – has seen audience members walking through a light mist of disinfectant, having their temperature taken, and filling in a questionnaire about their symptoms and recent places they’ve visited.”
- “We’ve done some modelling using social distancing rules and our capacity would be reduced to around 27% with two-metre distancing, and around 36% with one-metre.”
- “In order for us to break even, and therefore be sustainable as a charity, we typically need a capacity of around 90%.”
- “If not, we don’t want the government telling us how to run our businesses. What we need is for them to say ‘this is what needs to be done in terms of the virus’ and we can then go back to them and tell them how to do it, how much it will cost and who can and can’t do it.”
However, Live Nation has recently announced that they will run a series of ‘drive-in’ gigs as live music organizers continue to explore ways to safely attend music events.
