Monday, November 15, 2021
The Magical Return of Live Music—And Its Uneasy Future
The Atlantic: It is the view of a lifetime: a sea of 8,488 expectant faces, their collective gaze converging to a single point, which happens to be exactly where I’m standing. Behind me sit about 60 members of the Colorado Symphony; my bandmates are at my side. Our band, Guster, is headlining Red Rocks, a natural amphitheater carved into the side of a rock formation in Morrison, Colorado, and universally regarded as one of the world’s preeminent live-music venues.
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This article hits me with sort of weird vibes. It purports to be about how the Delta wave has affected the live music and performance industry, but it seems like more of a dwelling nostalgia piece on live music. Which is fine. There's nothing wrong with a love letter to live performance, but at the end of the day this article doesn't have a lot to say. That said, Delta has had a pretty profound effect on the music and live performance industry. The original stoppage from COVID was devastating, but came with a fairly large amount of attention and support. We all had that first period in the summer of 2020 where there was a lot of creativity around what live performance looks like, what it could be, and I think that's less true this time. It's also less of a hard shutdown, and it's somewhat possible to do live events safely, but it's definitely a double edged sword.
Personally, I can’t wait for live music to return! My favorite band was going on tour right before COVID first hit and we went into quarantine, and I had gotten tickets far in advance, only for the tour to get cancelled. I was really devastated. But the tour is happening again, and I’m going to get to see them in April, which I’m ecstatic about. I agree with the singer of Guster, that while music live streams have been fun, many of which I’ve tuned into to see, there’s really nothing quite like a live performance. I really miss going to concerts with the band up close and personal, because it’s truly a unique experience. So it’s great that it’s slowly been returning, and that the bands won’t have to care about the personal health choices of any individual members of the audience. I’m so so so excited for concerts again!
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