Major concerts return despite variant blues
Six hundred and nine. That’s how many days passed between Elton John at PPG Paints Arena in November 2019 and Chicago at The Pavilion at Star Lake on Wednesday.
For a number of people at the Chicago show, that’s how many days went by without them seeing a ticketed concert in one of the region’s major venues.
One of those people was Barry Fischer, of Elizabeth, who stood out in the front row at Star Lake, sporting a Chicago T-shirt, cap and tattoo of the band’s logo
stretched forearm. across his left Wednesday night marked his 37th Chicago show, and needless to say, it was the perfect ticket back from the pandemic shutdown.
“It’s amazing,” he said at intermission. “It was worth paying the price. It gave me chills up my spine. I forgot about everything that was weighing me down and just concentrated on the concert and the talent of that 10-piece machine.”
For millions of people who attend big concerts every year, it is, as Bruce Springsteen says, like going to the church of rock ’n’ roll. For more than a year, that soul connection was broken.
When things began to cancel in March 2020 — South by Southwest, then big tours like The Rolling Stones, Roger Waters and Rage Against the Machine — we thought it might be a few months and things would return to normal in the late summer or fall.
Then “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 brought everything to a near-halt before we could resume games, concerts and other mass events. Concerts have been slower to come back, but moving into August and September, they will come fast and furious. Chicago is the first of a dozen shows Star Lake will present in Burgettstown, Washington County, before wrapping its shortened season in mid-October.
PPG Paints will do its first concert since The Lumineers on Feb. 25, 2020, with folk-rock legends
James Taylor and Jackson Browne on Aug. 3. The Downtown venue has eight more concerts lined up before the end of the year, inc lu ding Eric Church, Harry Styles and Genesis. The last show before the shutdown at Stage AE was Japanese EDM artist Steve Aoki on March 8, 2020. The North Shore venue, which normally launches its outdoor season in early May, has delayed the start of its summer season until Aug. 11 when bluegrass artist Billy Strings will make his debut there. Before the snow falls, it has 13 more shows, with everyone from Pixies to Kesha scheduled for the amphitheater side, with more to come. On top of that, we’ve come full circle with the Stones, led by Mick Jagger, who turns 78 tomorrow, now scheduled for Oct. 4 at Heinz Field. There’s reason to be optimistic that this will all go as planned, but there’s a touch of gray in the oncoming cloud with the coronavirus’s delta variant. Celine Dion, scheduled for a show here in September, postponed her tour till the spring of 2022, saying in a statement: “My team and I are still concerned about everyone’s safety this summer even though the situation has dramatically improved. We all feel 100% comfortable that things will be very safe next spring, and I want my fans to feel the same way, without any worries. I hope everyone understands.” Foo Fighters, after playing a fully vaccinated show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on June 20, postponed a July 17 Los Angeles show because of a COVID-19 case “within the Foo Fighters organization.” For playing that vaxonly show, The Foos were met with protests and new, derisive takes on their name. John Joseph of CroMags dubbed them “Flu Pfizers.”
The governments of France and England have announced that vaccine passports will be required for entry to clubs and concerts beginning in September, a move that has received mixed reaction from artists. Eric Clapton, who suffered a severe reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine earlier this year, released a statement Wednesday saying, in part, “I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present. Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show.”
It prompted Twitterhappy old friend David Crosby to tweet, “Eric is a fine musician and singer … fine writer … and in my opinion politically a bit dim in the bulb.”
Chris Robinson, who fronts The Black Crowes, the next band up at Star Lake, said in an interview with the Post-Gazette that the band and crew are vaccinated and that he encourages other people to do so.
Regarding vaccine passports, Mr. Robinson said, “I don’t know. I drink French white wine and read Russian literature and listen to jazz records when I’m not doing this. This is for the states and counties and Live Nation to figure out.”
Asked if he believes Stage AE will pull off its summer season without disruption, AEG/Promowest exec Scott Stienecker said, “Very optimistic. We have a ton of great shows. We are working very diligently with the bands to make it safe. We’re on it!”