Live Nation Experiments With Live “Drive-In” Concerts
Featured country performers include Darius Rucker, Brad Paisley and Jon Pardi, who gave us some details
By kncitom on June 22, 2020
Live Nation, the company that presents the bulk of big concerts every summer, is experimenting with a possible solution to the lack of live shows during the pandemic.
July 10-12, the company will put on 3 events, at 3 different Live Nation venues in Nashville, St Louis and Indianapolis and, if successful, it could be the way we attend concerts going forward for the time being.
According to a press release from Live Nation: “Grammy-winning singer Brad Paisley will headline shows in all three cities, while fellow country artists Darius Rucker and Jon Pardi will also perform in Nashville at Nissan Stadium. Nelly will perform in Maryland Heights, near St. Louis“.
Since he’s one of the performers and since we kinda know him because he’s from around here, we reached out to Jon during Monday’s show to get more details. For starters we wanted to know if the artists would be inside the venue and their performances streamed live. Jon said, nope. “it’s just like a concert, except fans are in their cars and we just crank up the PA“.
Fans- up to 4 per vehicle- will watch from their cars or trucks. With proper social distancing people will be allowed to watch outside their vehicles, and can bring their own food and drink (concessions however will be open as well). And while the performers are live onstage at the front of the parking area, there will also be giant LED screens too- just like at a regular concert. Access will be limited though; Live Nation says the Missouri show, for example, will only have a 1000 car capacity.
But…for those thirsting for live shows, Jon told us this could be a way for artists to still hit the road. “If all goes good, this may be the only way to have concerts over the summer. We’ll see.” And then he added, “No meet and greets though, ha!”
Garth Brooks is already pioneering virtual concerts at actual drive-ins (50,000 tickets sold to his nationwide event this Saturday, which includes the West Wind in Rancho Cordova) and definitely performers want some sort of “end around”, because unlike the old days, touring is where most of the money is made now. If this experiment is successful, let’s hope they include their venues in Shoreline and Wheatland.
Just in case you’re planning to be in Nashville, St Louis or Indianapolis between July 10 and 12, you can get more information on ticket sales here and type in your city of choice.
