Talk about bad timing. Normally would Sleep will premiere on Saturday to an audience of 1,000 people in the Antwerp Queen Elisabeth Hall. Due to the stricter corona measures, this happened for only 200 visitors. In addition, the concert series, a support project with performances by Natalia, Bart Peeters and Barbara Dex, among others, was stopped immediately after the premiere.
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Also with Johan Verminnen, Sandrine and Jean Bosco Safari Sleep put together a strong poster. The concerts served to give the Antwerp Zoo a financial boost. It had previously closed for two months in the spring, and also felt the impact of the call not to move to Antwerp during the summer. Now corona is throwing a spanner in the works again. Performances can currently be attended by a maximum of 200 concertgoers, so the organization will stop its series before it has even started.
“We let the premiere of Saturday go ahead, with the visitors who were the first to book for that date”, it sounds at the Antwerp Zoo. “This is how we want to send a positive note. But we have to cancel the other performances on 25, 29 and 31 October. All people who bought a ticket will be notified personally. We hope for understanding and support. ” Normally, more than 4,000 spectators would have seen the performance, in corona-proof conditions. Anyone who was not there during the premiere will get their money back. The Antwerp Zoo will remain open as usual.
Photo: RR
Not aware of any harm
However, the artists of Zoolala were looking forward to it. Most haven’t felt a big stage under their feet for months. “My last performance was the fifteenth in the series of Lotto Arena shows,” says Bart Peeters. Then came corona. It felt like I was on a moving train and hit a wall with a loud bang. After that I had to cancel fifty concerts and summer festivals. The remaining shows in the Lotto Arena were initially postponed until September, now until May 2021. ”
Until just before the cancellation, Natalia was not aware of any harm. “A lot of artists are craving gigs right now,” she said at the time. “Six options for performances have now been removed from my agenda, and for a moment we feared that ZOOlala would not be allowed to continue. While we are still all allowed to sit on a plane. Fortunately, this concert can go corona-proof, because we are all very much looking forward to this. ” Spoken too soon, it turns out.
Earlier, Niels Destadsbader also had to postpone all his twelve corona proof concerts to next spring. At Studio 100 they decided all upcoming performances of the muscial 40-45 to be deleted because they don’t like the stricter measures.
READ ALSO. Niels Destadsbader moves concert series
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