Lollapalooza Co-Founder Predicts No Concerts Until 2022

Americans hoping to attend a concert this year may have to find other ways to entertain themselves.

The Hill reported on its blog that Lollapalooza co-founder Marc Geiger predicted U.S. fans may have to wait until 2022 to see a concert because of COVID-19. The annual four-day music festival Lollapalooza has been held in Chicago. Its website says the show will be held virtually this year, but ticket information was unavailable.

“My guess is late ’21, more likely ’22,” Geiger said on “The Bob Lefsetz Podcast,” adding that insurance is one of many reasons for the delayed return to the festival tradition.

He told listeners that any return to the festival circuit could be up to the government or testing. But Geiger also noted figuring out the precise reason is too infinite of a well to go down.

“In my humble opinion, it’s going to be ‘22,” he said. “It’s going to take that long before what I call the germaphobia economy to be slowly killed off and be replaced by what I call the claustrophobia economy, which is where everybody wants to go out and go back to dinner and have their life and go to festivals and go to shows.”

In June, PYMNTS reported while the summer season is the time to attend music festivals and cultural events, the fun has been put on hold.

Austin’s Levitation music festival has been canceled, as has Milwaukee’s annual Summerfest musical festival. The United Kingdom’s signature summer concerts, Reading and Leeds, have both been called off, as has Madrid’s Mad Cool Festival. Bob Dylan’s not-so-aptly named Never-Ending Tour has ended, and in Black Rock City, Burning Man has been postponed.

Geiger noted that any event which he called a super-spreader — including concerts, sports or festivals — would not sell tickets while COVID-19 is a present danger.

“So my instinct is the world has a very long, forced timeout,” he said. “A lot of people see the positives in it, whether it’s climate, whether it’s pollution, whether it’s traffic, whether it’s nature, whether it’s animals, whether it’s our own beings and taking a pause.”

He also noted that even if concert promoters wanted to hold a show, Geiger said getting an insurance policy during a pandemic would be nearly impossible.

“There is no insurance against COVID-19 currently offered…and even normal insurance policies are pretty scarce and hard to come by,” he said.