The future of music festivals and live music gatherings is looking bleak. Last week, Professor Brendan Murphy, one of the country’s top doctors, has answered a bunch of burning coronavirus questions from his office in Canberra.
In the Q&A, Professor Murphy revealed that he believes nightclubs and music festivals would be out of action until a cure or vaccine for coronavirus is found.
“Unless you’re absolutely, completely confident about your borders, your testing, your surveillance, you can’t relax a measure of distancing,” he shared. “It’s hard for me to envisage reopening of nightclubs and big music festivals in the foreseeable future.”
Two of the biggest music festivals in Australia, Splendour in the Grass and Bluesfest, have already announced their rescheduled dates.
The last update punters received from Splendour In The Grass is that the 2020 instalment of the festival would be going ahead on Friday 23, Saturday 24, Sunday 25 of October this year. We don’t want to sound like a bunch of negative nancies, but with no coronavirus vaccine, and international travel at a complete standstill, the likeliness of Splendour going ahead feels less and less realistic as each day passes.
Hopefully, the live music landscape will show signs of recovery by Bluesfest 2021 — set to kick off in April.
“We will find a way to continue and present in 2021,” Festival Director Peter Noble OAM declared after the announcement that the 2020 instalment of the festival had been postponed.
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“I am a veteran; having been in this incredible industry since the ’60s I have never experienced such a dire situation.
“As a premier event we need to present another Bluesfest not only for ourselves, but also for the entire entertainment industry to see that there will be a brighter day and that as an industry we will come back from this.”
