Christopher BarrettGeoff Ellis, CEO of Scotland’s DF Concerts, said he is determined to press ahead with this year’s edition of TRNSMT, after the 50,000-capacity Glasgow festival was cancelled last year due to Covid-19, but it will be late February before there will be any indication of certainty.
The Live Nation Entertainment-owned DF festival is scheduled to take place on 9-11 July, with a line up including Lewis Capaldi, Liam Gallagher, Rita Ora and Amy Macdonald.
In an interview with Scotland’s Daily Record, Ellis cited the successful rollout of vaccines in the UK and rapid mass testing schemes such as the one used by Primavera Sound as being key to TRNSMT’s return.
He said, “The results from a trial Primavera event in Spain recently appear to be a very positive moment, as they used mass testing with rapid results to put on a major show.
“It’s looking like there were no problems with virus transmission as a result.
“If you couple a similar strategy here, with the benefit of our huge vaccination drive, the situation rapidly advances to one where you can get back to doing things that have been impossible in recent times.
“Testing and vaccinations are obviously two major tools that can help society get back to normal.
“I feel very optimistic that we will be talking very soon about festivals like TRNSMT going ahead this year.
“We don’t claim that any events will be 100% risk free but we have to return to life, allowing people to move around and participate in cultural events.
“I’m talking about the least vulnerable groups being subject only to a very small element of risk.”
Ellis told Access that with each of the UK governments gathering data on how the vaccine performs, and upscaling their vaccine rollouts, the festival industry will need to wait until at least late February before any of the governments can give an indication as to what the summer festival season might look like.