(9 Mar 2021) FROM DRIVE THRU'S TO BALCONIES TO PLANTS - SOME OF THE CREATIVE WAYS THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY OPERATED UNDER PANDEMIC RESTRICTIONS, PART 1 

AP Archive

A year of lockdowns and pandemic restrictions has meant shuttered venues, cancellations and postponements in every area of the entertainment industry. 

Many organizations continued virtually, embracing technology to reach audiences digitally.  

But a few found innovative ways to safely stage in-person events. Or, in the case of Spanish conceptual artist Eugenio Ampudia, a live concert with an audience of vegetation. Plants filled the seats of the legendary El Liceu opera house in Barcelona for the performance, the day after Spain's national state of emergency ended (21 June), following three months of restrictions on movement to rein in its COVID-19 outbreak. The concert was streamed live through the theatre's website, before all 2,292 plants (the theatre's total seating capacity) were to be given to health care professionals from a local Hospital Clinic as a sign of gratitude for their work during the pandemic. 

In the Ukraine, rockers O. Torvald performed a so called vertical concert in July, in front of one of Kyiv's 4-star hotels. Rather than buying tickets for the gig, fans booked a room at the Bratislava hotel, then watched the show - one of a number of gigs by different bands planned there for the summer - from one of its 90 balconies.   

Through the summer, some found new ways to recreate familiar days out -  in Brazil, drive-ins including a circus and an art exhibition welcomed visitors in their cars; while in Paris, boats took to the Seine for a floating cinema. 

In Tokyo, a haunted house drive-thru scared up by production company Kowagarasetai offered zombie horror thrills for visitors confined to their cars. The "undead" attacked the vehicles for each 13-minute performance - before helpfully cleaning fake blood off the windows. 

In Los Angeles in October, a drive-thu "Halloween Road," sponsored by the Freeform channel, offered scenes inspired by "Ghostbusters," "Hocus Pocus" and Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." 

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Circus Tent ~ Mark Ogge