By: Francisco Rendon
When Pollstar
last spoke with Elements Festival co-founders Brett Herman and Timothy Monkiewicz in September, the two were organizing their second “In My Elements” retreat, a small-scale gathering using the Elements brand to try to pioneer ways to safely organize small events in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Herman and Monkiewicz organized three such events with a two-tiered COVID testing process that required guests to take one test approximately one week before showtime and another, rapid-response test onsite before entrance.
This method has prevented any occurances of COVID-19 from being transmitted at their events.
They are now using the same method for the return to their main festival, which is to take place Sept. 3-6 in the forest of northeastern Pennsylvania with a lineup including Diplo, Chris Lake, Bonobo, Ganja White Night, Bob Moses and many more.
By: Francisco Rendon
Ulet Ifansasti / Getty Images
Indonesian Drive-InDrive-in concerts like this one in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, featuring Jikustik, have come the closest to delivering the true live experience, and may help us get there in 2021.
After a number of agencies and promoters agreed to cancel all shows for several weeks on March 12 to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, there have been strings of hope that the pandemic might last only a few weeks, a few months, or maybe just the year.
Agents’ attempts to keep holds on dates through multiple time frames for a possible return have been mostly for naught, though. While places like Taiwan have seen arena shows return and Australia is proceeding with confidence into what looks to be a busy 2021, the specifics of what a comeback might look like in the U.S. still remain largely unclear.