Christopher BarrettLive Nation president Joe Berchtold (pictured) said the company expects a return to full-capacity events, without social distancing, in the summer of 2021.
In an interview with CNBC, Berchtold said the world’s biggest promoter and owner of Ticketmaster is confident that the US and Western European markets will see the return of major full-capacity outdoor shows in amphitheatres in the US, and festivals globally, next summer.
He said, “At this point, given the vaccine news, we start to see with much greater clarity what the path to a return to live is and certainly there is a lot of confidence.
“We are already starting to see some shows come back in Asia, New Zealand operating at full capacity, and other Asian markets that have made more progress coming back more quickly.
“It is our expectation that we will get back to full-capacity shows and we won’t need social distancing, certainly outdoors, by next summer. We have a number of protocols that we will take with all venues to create a safe environment, but we think by that point that the vaccine will be readily available to everyone. On a global basis there will be different rules in different markets but in general we think we will be able to get back to full capacity.”
Asked if entry to the events would be dependent on proof of vaccination, the LN president said: “We can’t predict what every local market public health official rules will be but we will follow those. In general our expectation is that that won’t be necessary due to great progress with the vaccine.”
Berchtold said Live Nation has rescheduled much of its planned 2020 shows to 2021, and almost 20 million fans have held on to their tickets for almost 4,000 rescheduled events.