COVID-19 has affected the economy and the workforce. Among those being hit are musicians who make their money performing in front of an audience. For most bands, the beginning of the year is filled with tours, where they meet adoring fans and build revenue from merchandise sales.
Many bands since February were advised to reschedule tour dates or even cancel them. One group, Palaye Royale was touring Europe for their headliner tour promoting their new album when President Donald Trump enacted a travel ban on flights coming from Europe to the U.S. This caused the band to cut their tour short and fly home via Paris.
Palaye Royale was performing a show in Prague before the Czech Republic began to shut down the entire country. It was such a whirlwind of events, they barely made it over the border before the country shut down completely,
“Our bus was one of the last transportations to get over the Czech border,” said Sebastian Danzig, Palaye Royale guitarist. “We wouldn’t have been able to get out of Prague. It would’ve been a nightmare.”
Many bands look forward to meeting their fans and performing on stage, but some musicians were forced to postpone the rest of their tour after their start because of growing concerns over coronavirus.
Official statements from multiple bands were sent out over Facebook and Twitter apologizing for postponing their upcoming tours, stating they would have rescheduled dates soon.
In a video posted to Facebook, We Came As Romans announced the safety of not only themselves, but their fans are most important, so they had to postpone their “To Plant a Seed 10 Year Anniversary” tour until July and August.
In the video, lead singer Dave Stephans said, “It breaks our hearts to have to do this but we are going to be postponing the Plant a Seed Anniversary Tour to this July and August, for your safety, our safety. That is the most important thing right now. So please don’t be too upset, we are going to be bringing the same bands out the same exact lineup your tickets will be honored…in the meantime, we are going to be getting back in the studio, and working on new music until we can get back on the road.”
To give hope during a time of uncertainty, musicians have been putting on live concerts through Instagram, Youtube and other frequently used media sites.
On March 21, a concert was broadcasted on Facebook called “A Day of Hope: Live Music is Still Alive.” This stream promoted the sale of merchandise and albums of local musicians since they lost the income of live performances.
Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy brought some humor to the online concert world by doing an Instagram Live concert with action figures of Fall Out Boy, since they were enclosed in their own homes and couldn’t perform together.
Some other big names to bring concerts online were Keith Urban, John Legend, Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin.
Rob Thomas, the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty, called his own session “Social Distancing Sessions” and called for other musicians to participate.
In this difficult time, they are still trying to put music out into the world, not in front of an audience, but virtually for those to enjoy. Although COVID-19 is postponing concerts and canceling them, the music community is coming together as an aspiration to maintain hope in the world.
Photo credit: Sammi Mika, Lewis University
