‘Please go by the laws’
In a video statement released on his social media accounts, country singer Chase Rice offered no apologies or clear regrets about a weekend concert that stirred outrage for its packed, no-social-distancing, mask-free crowd conditions.
But he acknowledged that “a lot of people seeing that online had a big problem” with the appearance of the show, and he urged fans at his next concert to “please go by the rules ... please go by the laws.”
Unlike his standing-room general-admission show in Tennessee Saturday, Rice’s next show is at a drive-in, similar to the few live concerts happening in recent weeks have been.
“The biggest thing for all of us is the safer we are now, the quicker that we get to get to actual normal live shows, which I know we all want,” Rice said, in urging the audience at the next concert to stay near their vehicles.
There was no driving in Saturday for his show at the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, where the audience looked downright Coachella-like in its shoulder-to-shoulder closeness.
Although the venue said the crowd was smaller than it appeared, at only about 1,000 ticket holders, the festival-like look of the footage, at a time when coronavirus rates in that state and others are spiking, made Rice an instant social media target.
But some fans defended Rice — and another country singer, Chris Janson, who was attacked for similar footage of a packed show in Idaho the same night — as someone being unfairly railroaded in a public overreaction to the coronavirus crisis.
Perhaps in deference to those fans, Rice offered no indications Saturday’s show was unwise in anything other than appearance, and that, along with his seemingly putting the onus of safety at his next show on fan behaviour, may do little to mollify his critics.
“What’s up y’all, Chase here. and I just want to address my show Saturday night,” he says in leading off the minute-long statement. “For those of you who don’t know, I had a show in east Tennessee, took a video of the concert — everybody had a blast. But then once I posted the video, a lot of people seeing that online had a big problem with how the show looked, how the show went down. And I understand there’s a lot of varying opinions and a lot of different opinions on COVID-19, how it works with live music crowds, and what all that looks like.
“My biggest thing is y’all,” he continued. “Y’all are why I get to write songs, y’all are why I get to tour the country, why I get to do live shows and sing these songs to you guys and you guys sing ’em back. You guys are everything to me, so your safety is a huge, huge priority.
“So moving forward, I have a show in Ashland, Ky., on Friday, and it’s a drive-in show. You can take your trucks, take your cars, you have your own space. You can get out of your cars, you can get out of your trucks and party with me. Please do — sing the songs — but stay in your own space; stay with the people you came with. And the biggest thing for all of us is the safer we are now, the quicker that we get to get to actual normal live shows, which I know we all want.
“So thank you guys for understanding. Please go by the rules. Please go by the laws on this Friday show coming up and the shows moving forward so we can get to regular shows soon enough. I love you guys, God bless you, and God bless country music.”
Variety