Covid Attendance / Concerts

 

The old people aren’t going.

We live in an era of data transparency, just check the availability of seats for boomer shows on Ticketmaster, they’re plentiful. They may be expensive, but in the old days the gigs went clean, now they don’t.

It’s unclear what is happening in Covid world. Infections are going down in most places, as are deaths, except in a few northern red states, is this the end? Could be, probably not. We know how this ultimately plays out… Monoclonal antibodies, the new pill…the unvaxxed are gonna be saved and then they’re going to declare victory, saying they were right to abstain from the vaccine, despite being wrong, but how long will it take?

It’s a conundrum. On so many levels America is open for business. Look for masks at sporting events, it’s hard to find ’em. But despite so many out in the world, there are so many who are still trepidatious, and they’re hurting business, in the concert world, the restaurant world… The boomers are the ones with money, and they’ll spend it, but they don’t want to risk dying to have the experience.

Talk until you’re blue in the face, you can’t convince them otherwise. It’s an internal feeling, which is different from an anti-vaxxer belief. They’d prefer to stay home and be safe rather than sorry. Get old enough and you can miss anything. A youngster needs the cereal in the grocery store, an oldster can pass it up, they know life is long and they want it to be longer.

So the concert business is not back.

So many of the dollars are generated by acts appealing to oldsters.

And it’s not only concerts, it’s movies too.

“Latest James Bond Film Falls Behind Predecessors as Covid-19 Concerns Linger”: https://on.wsj.com/2YztTPI

The hype is so heavy you’d believe that the Bond return is a triumph, proving that Covid is in the rearview mirror, that happy days are here again, BUT THAT IS UNTRUE!

But we live in a world where nobody will speak the truth. Britain is reeling from Brexit, but no one will use the B-word:

Brexit is Making Britain a Third World Country The Ugly Truth is Brexit Didn’t “Level Up” Britain — It’s Levelling it All the Way Down To Ruin

Read this article. And remember, the promised touring concessions have yet to be instituted. If you’re an English act trying to tour the Continent…you might as well be from America.

People are stupid, and those in control won’t speak the truth and they’re kept stupid, if not delusional.

We could fix these situations. We could have more vaccine mandates. Then boomers would be willing to pay high prices to go to shows. But until then, many are reluctant. This is why Dennis Arfa said boomer superstars should stay home until at least next spring. Talk to agents and promoters, tickets suddenly stopped selling. Not completely, but on-sales have dropped dramatically. Not that you’ll read this in any trade papers, which are cheerleaders echoing the words of those paying their bills.

We have not returned to normal. We could look at the economic indicators, but the truth is the unvaxxed are slowing down our entire economy. Blame me all you want, but this is something that is covered in the news, not on OAN or Fox, but in the “Wall Street Journal” and “New York Times.”

Happy days are not here again. We still need to fight Covid, not only physically, but in the mind. How do industries make patrons feel safe again? We’ve still got a long way to go.

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