For the Love of Live Music in the Age of COVID
Anyone who knows me or has followed me online for any amount of time knows that music is my life. Specifically, much of my life - both professionally and personally - revolves around live performances. For me, they are an essential service, but it’s just not safe to congregate that way at the moment. While many people have missed not being able to get their hair cut or their nails done while everything is on hold for COVID-19, if I had to pick one thing that I miss most, it would be live music.
From a personal perspective, concerts play a big part in keeping me sane. I’ve done numerous blog posts on that subject. A cool thing that’s come out of everyone being off the road is that the artists I love to go see live also miss the road and have been doing online performances from their homes pretty regularly. While I’ve enjoyed that, it is definitely not the same as being in the same room with them, only a few feet away and breathing the same air. You just can’t duplicate the energy of being there in the moment with them. For now, I am grateful that we have at least this outlet for sharing the music we love, but I dream of the day when we can all be in the same space again.
Professionally, I’ve made my living in various concert venues and theaters for over 20 years with only a break here and there to be a stay-at-home mom. It sounds strange to me to say that because that seems like a really long time, and I guess it is in a way, but it hasn’t felt like it because I love what I do. Any job brings headaches with it sometimes, but the feeling I get from looking in a packed room that I helped fill and seeing people enjoying themselves and getting lost in the performance is like nothing else. I remember feeling that especially when I peeked in on the very first Nashville Predators hockey game years ago when I was still in Nashville working at what is now Bridgestone Arena. I had no interest in sports but was curious to see the sold out crowd in the stands and what all the fuss was about, so I went in for a few minutes and took it all in, and the energy in that room was unbelievable. I felt an immense sense of pride that I had helped make that happen, and I have had an on-going appreciation for the Predators ever since - as our hometown team as well as for the time I spent working there. I’ve felt that feeling many times since then over the years. Somehow, all the hard work feels worth it when the lights go down, the act hits the stage, and the crowd cheers.
With talk of concerts possibly not returning until 2021, it definitely gives me reason for concern as a fan and as a person who works in live events. As much as I miss seeing my favorite artists on the road, there is also the part of me with a family to feed who worries about what it will mean for my job long-term if this continues too much longer. I’m thankful that, unlike many in my field, I’ve been able to keep working from home thus far, but the 2nd half of our season was also wiped out by mid-March because of this. The live entertainment world has been hit so hard with countless canceled shows and those who work so hard to make those shows happen suddenly being left wondering what comes next. Our business can’t just open back up and go back to normal even when the time comes. Live performances take a lot of time - months and even years - to work out logistically. They don’t just happen overnight, and while our next season, scheduled to begin in the fall, is already mostly booked, I’m not overly optimistic that that’s going to happen as planned either. It feels like a lot is up in the air, and the planner in me doesn’t like ambiguity.
At the end of the year, I usually make a list of the concerts I saw as a fan that year. Sadly, this year’s list will be pretty nonexistent. Thankfully, I was able to see Allen Stone w/Samm Henshaw and Andy Suzuki & The Method a couple of weeks before everything blew up. As amazing as that show was, I had no idea at the time that it would likely have to hold me the rest of the year. The other shows I was planning to see right after that were canceled, of course, and there will probably not be any tangible summer concert season. That realization is heavy for me.
That said, I am in no hurry to rush back into a crowd of any kind and probably won’t be for a while. I am generally not a fan of crowds even under normal circumstances, and I am certainly not ready to be in one right now. I think it’s possible to deeply miss the things we love to do while also acknowledging and respecting the fact that now is not the time for them. Now is the time to pause these things to be able to come back together and enjoy them again later when it’s safer from a public health standpoint. So, I can mourn, with everything in me, the show season that has been so rudely and abruptly interrupted, but I am also happy to stay at home as long as it takes. Those emotions don’t have to cancel each other out, nor should they.