VALENCIA. The countdown continues. Summer is approaching and the time for music festivals that delayed their celebration last year and those that continue to announce (or even sell tickets) editions in 2021 is running out. Neither the Valencian Community nor the central government have made public any plan to illuminate which scenarios promoters, artists and the public can be found in about three months, as already published Cultureplaza. In this sense, the Association of Promoters of Festivals of the Valencian Community (Promfest) -through Fotur- will present this week to Health a protocol to demonstrate the viability of its events with measures such as holding these in large venues, reduced capacity, rapid tests at the entrances to prohibit entry to people who test positive in tests or entries by turns.
Everything depends on several situations that it seems that will not be resolved since the emergency horizon does not go beyond the end of the State of Alarm, in force until May 9. The most important is, of course, the evolution of infections and incidence, but also that the vaccination process is advanced, and the forecasts of 70% of the vaccinated adult population have been delayed until the end of summer. Primavera Sound has already taken the step of canceling. In Portugal, Rock in Rio Lisboa too. Mad Cool not yet. In Valencia, only the 4ever Valencia Fest has done it -for now.
With all this panorama, the idea of making a festival to use, for which many people have their entrance, dissipates. Spain is not the only country with this problem, although there are others that have already sought (and found) a way out.
It is the case of France. The Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, confirmed at the end of February in a meeting with festival organizers and representatives of the sector that the festivals could be held during this summer under very strict conditions: a maximum of 5,000 people, seated and with social distance , in addition to setting up an economic fund of 30 million euros to help festivals, which are forced to modify their programming or cancel it directly. The French promoters announced “to be in shock”, according to France 24 collected. In a survey conducted by the We Love Green festival among its audience, 85% said they would not want to attend it if it were not standing up.
For its part, the electronic music festival Liquicity (expected to be held on July 16) said in a statement in February that the Dutch government had assured them the return of the festivals as of July 1. “The events in the Netherlands are having record sales thanks to this government announcement,” they said. The executive has presented a cancellation fund endowed with 300 million euros and destined so that events with a capacity of more than 3,000 people and that are held after the indicated date continue to operate; If the event is finally canceled, the fund serves as a guarantee to be able to return the money for the tickets. In any case, the same festival has presented its plan B and C: “if the festival is canceled, it will be moved to the end of summer, and it is still too early, it will be delayed to 2022”.
One of the countries that have advanced the most in their vaccination is Britain, and although the approach of its de-escalation (after a third traumatic wave) is to do it very gradually, some festivals do not give up on being celebrated such as Reading and Leeds, Parklife or Creamfields. From the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) they assure, however, that “the festival season in 2021 is not guaranteed at this time” and asked the government for an extra effort. Boris Johnson’s government has not set a date for the return, but it has offered them part of the fund of the 1,000 million pounds destined to artistic, patrimonial and entertainment organizations affected by the health situation. Glastonbury, for its part, has already announced that it will not be held.
Live experiments
In Spain, the Sala Apolo carried out a study together with the Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital, the Lucha contra el Sida Foundation and Primavera Sound in which some 500 people attended a concert without social distance and were able to dance although with a mask. The bar service and the smoking area had its own protocol. The study yielded very encouraging results: none of the people contracted the virus, so it would be a safe space. This study is just a first step to find out how the coronavirus works and which parts of the current protocol must be maintained and which parts can be relaxed so that live music can return to normal as soon as possible.
In the Netherlands, the government – together with the Fieldlab company and several promoters of cultural and sporting events – have been doing different pilots since January to test some of the protocols and be able to study them. Among them, a football match with 1,500 people in the audience, two open-air festivals and dance and cabaret shows.
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