A slew of acts have canceled tour dates as COVID cases rise once again, casting a pall over what was shaping up to be a record-setting concert season.
On the drive back from the first weekend of this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Liz Sánchez felt more run-down than usual. Sánchez, an L.A. resident in her mid-20s, said that as she first walked through the gates to see headline acts like Harry Styles and Billie Eilish, she felt nervous about returning to crowded music festivals, even outdoor ones.
Almost no one expects a return to the harried days of 2020 or even the wobbly optimism of 2021 — live music, and the financial sustenance it provides artists, touring personnel, venues, promoters and areas like the Coachella Valley, is definitively back. When masks are no longer mandatory even on airplanes, it’s hard to see the music industry taking a harder line after two years of economic mayhem.
Phoebe Bridgers, seen here performing at Coachella, wrote on social media earlier in the month, “Please wear a mask tonight so we can stay on tour.” For artists and crews on the front lines of the live business, COVID-19 diagnoses can mean weeks of lost work and isolation expenses far from home. “Please wear a mask tonight so we can stay on tour,” Coachella performer Phoebe BridgersSinger-songwriter Bob Mould, 61, was vigilant about COVID-19 protocols since 2020, and he was triple-vaccinated when he returned to the road last year. “We took it very seriously from the beginning.
“I don’t think there’s any question we have to be wearing masks when we congregate indoors,” says Bob Mould. Mould had to cancel his tour after contracting the coronavirus following a recent Bay Area concert.