Luxembourg Music Experiment Might “Prepare For Return To Live Events”
Five live concerts will be taking place in Luxembourg next month, in a bid to test the suitability of live music venues reopening in the near future.
The experiment will take place at Luxembourg’s Rockhal arena between 10th and 14th February, and has been organised by the Arena Resilience Alliance (ARA), a lobby group which wants to develop a safe model that could see a return to live events.
The capacity of the test gigs will be limited to 100 people per evening, and both masks and social distancing will be mandatory. The events will be seated and use a 360° stage, so everyone can see while being safely apart from each other. Attendees will be required to take a test for Covid-19 before the event, as well as a week after.
The ARA will also be hosting a virtual conference on 18th February, discussing how arenas and large venues across Europe can prepare for a safe reopening that is sustainable amid the ongoing pandemic.
Olivier Toth, the chief executive of Rockhal and co-founder of the Arena Resilience Alliance, said the shows will be an “important step forward in testing the safety measures we can employ to support our back-to-business strategies”.
Toth’s fellow ARA co-founder, Robert Fitzpatrick added: “As the advocacy platform for European arenas, the ARA is proud to provide an opportunity for the industry to come together with key EU decision-makers to prepare for a return to live events, whilst working to protect the health and well being of our communities and the sustainability of our industry, which will be central to the economic and societal recovery of countries across Europe.”
Fitzpatrick is also the chief executive of the Odyssey Trust, which owns the SSE Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The experiments in Luxembourg follow in the footsteps of the recent live performances by The Flaming Lips, who played two gigs in their hometown of Oklahoma City, with the band and the audience in individual “space bubbles“.
The Because Music Matters concerts in Luxembourg will feature different music every night, including electro-house and metal.