Analysis | The return of entertainment venues
In April 2021, music festivals and concerts, movie theaters and performance centers have gradually reopened, with a few exceptions. The Panther looked into local and national venues and their policies during this stage of the pandemic. Above, Franz Ferdinand performs at the Outside Lands music festival in 2012. WikiCommons
With Orange County’s recent reclassification to the orange tier of the COVID-19 California county watchlist and vaccines being more widely distributed across the country, Chapman students are beginning to test the waters of entertainment venues during the pandemic. Music enthusiasts experienced their first festival in over a year and film buffs are now widely able to munch on popcorn in front of the big screen again.
Yet some local mainstays are still hesitant on reopening. Here’s a guide to the in-person entertainment experiences currently available and unavailable to Chapman students.
Music festivals and concerts
The crowd sways back and forth, phone flashlights extending high in the air as psychedelic rhythms wash over them. Tame Impala has just taken the stage and the feeling is euphoric.
After over a year of concerts being canceled due to the pandemic, Madison Wong, a sophomore psychology major at San Jose State University, is excited to experience these feelings at a long-awaited concert.
“I am excited to see Tame Impala, since I was supposed to see them in March 2020,” Wong said. “The experience of being at a concert, surrounded by others who love the same artist as you do, is unmatched.”
Although there have been almost no in-person music festivals in California, a few have taken place in other states, including the Ubbi Dubbi Festival in Texas. Senior communication studies major Grace Glenn attended the event, which took place April 24 and April 25.
“We have all had a tough year and I was excited that we can get back to reality,” Glenn said. “I was super excited and ecstatic to know that I can get back out there and enjoy the music and energy with my friends.”
The Ubbi Dubbi music festival implemented new COVID-19 regulations, including reducing the capacity by 50% while requiring masks and proof of health screening or proof of vaccination upon arrival. However, regulations were not tightly enforced, according to Glenn.
“It was in Texas, where they do not have a mandate to wear a mask, so it was more relaxed,” she said. “However, I think in the future, especially in California, the festivals that go on will have more enforced mask mandates, which I think is the right thing to do.”
Recently the Outside Lands music festival, which takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area, released three-day and one-day passes for their rescheduled event, which will take place Oct. 29 through Oct. 31.
“I just bought my ticket for the first day this week and I can’t wait,” Wong said. “Music is a really fun way to bring people together and just being in a crowd and seeing everyone around you having fun makes you more excited to be there.”
Safety efforts for festivals such as Outside Lands may be similar to those of the City National Grove of Anaheim. Since the venue started hosting drive-thru events last July, it has hosted over 75 events for over 65,000 fans and made $4.1 million in gross ticket sales, according to Vanessa Kromer, the vice president of communications for the venue’s parent company Nederlander Concerts. However, this summer, there will be a new iteration of the drive-in that will feature socially distanced “pods.”
“Starting in June, we are moving to a pod format, which will increase the capacity by 2.5 times the current amount,” Kromer said. “Fans will park in one part of the lot and they will walk over to the other side and be able to set up a socially distanced pod to watch the show in.”
Due to the success of the drive-in concerts, the turnout is expected to be high for the new pod format. The technology is already in place for a speedy transition.
“The staff has been working and is trained because we have been holding these drive-in events,” Kromer said. “All of our ticketing is already online ticketing. We have created an app that allows for food, beverage, concessions and merchandise to be delivered to the patron. A lot of the advancements to technology that we utilized for the drive-ins will be implemented when shows return.”
As vaccine rollouts continue to expand, the amount of live concerts, shows and festivals will concurrently increase. After over a year of being cooped up, this is an exciting prospect for some students.
“During the pandemic, I have spent a lot of time listening to music on my phone and watching old concert videos,” Wong said. “But ultimately getting to see music that you like in person, live, just hits differently than listening to it on Spotify.”
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts anticipates a full capacity audience by November. Photo courtesy of The Segerstrom Center for the Arts
Movie theaters and performance halls
After a year dominated by streaming service premieres and Zoom performances, movie theaters are back in full swing while performance halls are gearing up for live audience performances under strenuous circumstances.
The recently-released “Kong vs. Godzilla” broke pandemic box office records, generating $32 million in its opening weekend. It has since become the highest grossing MonsterVerse installment globally, beating out predecessors released before the pandemic.
Luis Reyes, a junior film production major, is a massive fan of the franchise. While they are still remaining cautious since they have yet to be fully vaccinated, Reyes decided to return to the theaters for the first time in April to see the film.
“It was pretty magical, mainly because I’m so used to seeing movies on my monitor in my room ever since quarantine began,” Reyes said. “It was nice to see a film take up so much space, to see all the details, to see all the effort that was put into it. Especially because I’ve learned so much in terms of filmmaking from the last time I saw a movie (in theaters).”
Alyssa Gomez, the senior manager of AMC Orange 30, also was grateful for the reopening of her workplace, which she says is one of the busier AMC locations. She said all of her staff is returning and they are already actively hiring for the busy summer ahead.
“It’s great being back at the movies. Consumer confidence is finally coming back,” Gomez said. “It’s definitely a positive environment and a sense of normality.”
On the other hand, performance halls are lagging behind movie theaters and outdoor stadiums, due to the concern over large indoor gatherings.
On May 12, Segerstrom Center for the Arts is having its first live performance with an audience in Segerstrom Hall since its closure. They are collaborating with the American Ballet Theatre to present a performance called “Uniting in Movement.”
Timothy Dunn, senior director of public relations, told The Panther that attendance will only fill 10%, or 300 seats out of the 3,000 available, of the theater in accordance with COVID-19 safety guidelines. However, this is the only performance they have planned until “Jesus Christ Superstar” in November, which Dunn said may accommodate an audience at full capacity.
“I understand that theaters have more contact, but we’re watching people go back to doing sports in person, but not seeing theaters go back in person,” said Gabrielle Di Bernardo, a freshman theater studies major. “And then additionally watching cinemas reopen, I get a little frustrated.”
While it may be a few months before performance halls are able to offer largely-attended theater performances, interested parties can still attend live outdoor performances and dance classes at Segerstrom Center’s Argyros Plaza. Students and local residents will once again have the chance to support the arts.