Back in December, Live Nation president Joe Berchtold said that he expected major concerts to return by summer of 2021. While Dr. Fauci has since predicted that fall might be a more accurate timeline for live music's return, Live Nation appear to be committed to summer, at least for now. Variety reports that in an earnings call on Thursday (2/25), CEO Michael Rapino was looking towards midsummer to resume business.
"Every day we seem to have a new state or country talking about when they’ll open up, so we’re feeling more optimistic than we were a month ago,” Rapino said. “Lots of artists are calling, looking at how we start up in July, August, September. So for right now, we still believe we’ll have enough open in the U.K., Australia, Canada and the U.S. to keep what we have on the books in amphitheaters booked for now. We might have certain states that might not be ready, but we have enough states and enough artists willing to play the open slots if we get to that level in the right markets. So as long as these states open up to the right capacities, we can start in midsummer and in the southern U.S. we can go all the way into November."