Fans danced, hugged and sang with the musicians on stage in an experimental indoor concert in Barcelona on Saturday night, aimed at reviving the music industry in Spain and around the world, world agencies reported.
Nearly 5,000 people gathered in the “Palau Sant Jordi” hall for the concert of the group “Love of Lesbian”, wearing face masks, but did not observe social distance. All spectators had negative tests for Kovid-19, which they did hours before the concert.
“It was remarkable. We felt safe all the time. We were in the front row, we missed it all a lot,” Salvador, 29, told Reuters after the concert. “We are proud to have had the opportunity to take part in this. We hope this will be the first of many such events.”
In a surreal experience after a year of social distancing, fans danced close together, but the sea of masked faces was a sign that things were not quite back to normal.
Medical examinations at the entrance delayed the start of the concert a bit, but this did not darken the festive mood.
“Welcome to one of the most exciting concerts of our lives!”, Greeted the frontman of the band Santi Balmes to the loud applause of the fans. The concert authorized by the authorities was an attempt to test whether it would be possible to resume such events.
“Being in Palau Sant Jordi will be safer than walking down the street,” one of the organizers, Jordi Herreuela, told Reuters before the concert.
At three locations in Barcelona on Saturday morning, 80 nurses in full protective clothing performed antigen tests for Covid-19 in the audience. By the middle of the day, there were three positives out of a total of 2,400 tests, and one of the candidates turned out to be in contact with an infected person, said Dr. Josep Maria Libre, who was in charge of the screening. These people were not admitted to the concert and their ticket money was refunded.
The results of the antigen tests were obtained 10-15 minutes later in a mobile phone application. The test and a protective face mask were included in the price of the concert tickets, which sold for 23-28 euros.
“I am convinced that today we have shown the world that culture is safe,” said Ramon, a 49-year-old fan.
The concert was supported by local authorities and experts from a local foundation for the fight against AIDS and infectious diseases, which organized a similar study at a concert with an audience of 500 people in December. They said preliminary results from the experiment showed that pre-concert screening with an antigen test and the use of masks were successful in preventing the spread of the infection indoors, although no restrictions on social distance were observed.
“This is another small step towards being able to organize concerts and cultural events again,” during a pandemic, said virologist Dr. Boris Revoyo, who prepared the event’s health protocol, before the concert.
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