Are concerts safe? For some artists risk outweighs reward

LOS ANGELES — Back in July, Madeline felt sick after a concert and knew she’d lose her job.

The L.a.-based musician and audio engineer — who asked to use a different name for this story, for fear of losing future work — was mixing sound for a support act on a medium-sized tour through the U.S. promoted by Live Nation. They were some of her first dates working in a year and a half.

At the end of the month, she said a portion of the crew — all vaccinated — fell ill after a show. Their tour manager got rapid COVID-19 tests for the whole 11-member team (paid from their own tour budget). Three members tested positive, including Madeline.

“The tour manager made the call to shut the tour down and go to a hotel to isolate. That was exactly the right way to do it,” Madeline said. But she’s frustrated to see tours once again falling apart over COVID-19 fears, just as many states end expanded unemployment and other support systems.

“Every show we played was in a hot spot, and no one working backstage at the local venues was masked. If you’re a smaller artist dependent on live events, there’s no way to be able to afford to test every day,” Madeline said. “There’s so much secrecy around this and there might well be outbreaks happening within this demographic, but we’re all shooting in the dark.”

Concert promoters, crews, artists and fans — who had enjoyed a brief window of optimism just two months ago — are trying to figure out what to do as the delta variant circulates. While vaccines still provide a very high degree of protection against severe illness and hospitalization, worries over delta’s increased infectiousness have already sidelined major tours.

“It’s already having an impact in terms of postponements, and until we turn the tide, it will continue to have an impact,” said Ray Waddell, president of Oak View Group Media & Conferences, the parent firm of concert industry analyst Pollstar. He said that while the industry is “in large part united” on necessary policies to keep fans and professionals safe, “I had one promoter tell me that the reopening has been far more challenging than the shutdown.”