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Live Nation announces season of COVID-proof drive-in shows

By | Published on Monday 22 June 2020

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Live Nation UK last week announced a season of drive-in concerts that are due to take place this summer while conventional venues and festivals remain out of action due to the COVID-19 shutdown.

The Streets, Ash, Gary Numan, Skindred, Beverley Knight and Dizzee Rascal are among the electric line-up of acts set to appear across the special season of shows. So far At The Drive-In have not been persuaded to come out of hiatus.

The live music giant isn’t the first company to experiment with gigs in car parks as a stop-gap measure to get artists back on stage and ticket money flowing back in while the COVID-19 social distancing rules are still in place. Drive-in shows have been staged or planned in multiple countries, with some similar shows already announced in the UK.

Some of these drive-in concerts pump the audio through each car’s stereo system – ie in line with the classic drive-in movie experience – though the Live Nation shows won’t do that.

The promoter says each of its drive-in shows will boast “a full state of the art sound system, lighting rig and high definition LED screens, creating an arena or stadium concert feel”. Punters won’t be confined to their cars and will be able to set out deckchairs in an allotted space, safely distanced from the next car-load of music fans and potential virus carriers.

Says Live Nation’s Peter Taylor: “This outdoor concert series was created as a way to reimagine the live music experience during a time of social distancing by allowing fans to enjoy concerts in the safest way possible. Each event will comply with all official government guidelines in order to protect fans, artists, crews and staff. We look forward to announcing some of the biggest names across UK music and bringing these fantastic artists to a city near you”.

Utilising twelve sites around the country, each show will be able to accommodate around 300 cars, with means a possible crowd of 2100 people, depending on how big those 300 cars are.

Anyone worried that shifting over to a live experience that requires a car to participate isn’t exactly a very eco-friendly scheme, well, don’t worry. Live Nation has picked as a sponsor Utility Energy, the energy provider that uses sneaky technology to cut how much energy people use and waste.

So, I’m sure everyone attending will sign up for the energy saving app and offset the pollution pumped out by their cars. Hey, the people going to these shows would probably be driving to the venue anyway, so stop your eco-bothering.



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