Some Milwaukee-area concerts requiring proof of vaccination or negative test.
A few Milwaukee concerts are adding extra safety protocols with COVID-19 cases again on the rise in the United States.
Indie-rock acts Japanese Breakfast, Bully and Valley Maker are now requiring people to wear masks at their shows, and to show proof of vaccination or of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours before a show.
That includes their upcoming Milwaukee concerts: Aug. 26 for Valley Maker at the Back Room at Colectivo Coffee; Aug. 30 for Bully at the Back Room; and Sept. 17 for Japanese Breakfast at Turner Hall Ballroom.
They are the first concerts in Milwaukee to impose these requirements. Both the Back Room and Turner Hall are run by the Pabst Theater Group, which also operates the Riverside and Pabst theaters.
“As it stands currently, the Pabst Theater Group requests that customers comply with all CDC guidelines relating to masks,” a Pabst spokeswoman wrote to the Journal Sentinel. “Certain events, however, may have enhanced safety requirements relating to vaccinations, testing or masks based on artist requests, local guidelines or other outstanding conditions.”
This week, Japanese Breakfast, the stage name for Michelle Zauner, wrote on social media that new requirements for her tour are due to rising COVID cases caused by the delta variant, and the Centers for Disease and Control’s revised recommendations asking that everyone, even the vaccinated, wear masks indoors.
“We will be as transparent as possible about these shows and fight for this across the board,” Zauner wrote on Facebook. “Please get vaccinated!”
With vaccination rates rising, music venues across much of the country reopened this summer after closing down in March 2020 at the dawn of the pandemic.
In Milwaukee, most venues have been following local safety guidelines, and have not required guests to wear masks or present proof of vaccination or a negative test.
Nearly no one was wearing a mask at Rauw Alejandro’s sold-out show at the Eagles Ballroom at the Rave July 25, and most concertgoers went without masks for the Foo Fighters’ concert at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater July 30, the first huge concert in the market since last year, with nearly 24,000 fans.
But due to the delta variant, cases are again rising in Wisconsin.
In recent days, two Milwaukee clubs — the Cactus Club and the Cooperage — announced mask requirements for guests.