Vaccination Required Concerts

Is it a form of discrimination and alienation, or is it simply protecting the health of concert goers themselves?

As we rocket our way through 2021, we are beginning to finally see some element of normality returning to the planet. Restrictions are slowly easing and people are starting to rediscover the outside world once again. Not only are people finally able meet face to face once again, outdoor extra curricular activities are making a comeback. Beginning with pubs and restaurants, only to then escalate to clubs and sporting events. The Euros final alone saw 60 000 fans filling up seats at Wembley Stadium, with very little social distancing measures put in place. Yet despite fans being allowed to fill stadiums in their tens of thousands to watch the football, music is still deemed too unsafe to go ahead until August. However, that is an argument for another day, for now let’s discuss what measure we could see put in place to protect concert goers from covid-19.

With virtually every artist preparing for a concert and tour filled 2022, there are many speculations as to what venues can do to protect both the artists and the fans. Obviously, everyone wants to see the back-end of the pandemic, and live in a world with zero restrictions, but there are many who are still concerned. After all, we’ve been in lock-down for the better part of a year and a half now, and the idea of normal life still feels like a mere pipe dream, but many have found hope in the vaccines. As such, millions of people now believe with the country fully vaccinated there can finally be an end to restrictions, which of course has led to the vigorous and controversial debate of the vaccine passport. This is something that many musicians have also taken on board.

With hope that the vaccine can help bring an end to restrictions, many believe that this vaccine passport will be the perfect vehicle to return to normality. Many countries have already implemented a vaccine passport requirement when crossing borders such as Grease, Cyprus, Denmark, Japan and even Israel, allowing travellers to enter without the need to quarantine. The passport however, won’t just apply to travel, as other industries will also adopt this requirement. In the UK, the government has put plans ahead to reopen night clubs in September, but this will be one of the industries affected by this vaccine requirement. Where this decision has received a great deal of praise, it has also come with some degree of backlash from the general public and even club owners themselves. Many claim these requirements are unfair on the industry, particularly compared to pubs, bars and restaurants.

As you can imagine the very same conversation is being had regarding the music industry. With tours being booked and festival bills inevitable many people are worried about the spread, and as such many artists have implemented their own requirements. So far one of the biggest advocates for this has been the Foo Fighters (or the Dee Gees depending on what mood they’re in). They have already begun playing to arenas filled with fully vaccinated audiences, last month they played to a full capacity Madison Square Gardens.

While this went down with the fans inside rather well, it was the fans stuck outside that seemed to have some issue with this, as the Foo Fighters were subject to anti-vaccination protests just outside. It wasn’t just the protester themselves either, the internet, as usual, had fans split and divided by this decision. Some hailed it as a step in the right direction and necessary to protect fans, the artists and the venue workers themselves. Whereas others slammed the Foo Fighters for alienating fans who didn’t want or even trust the vaccination. This divide even seems to take inspiration from the infamous Beatles vs Jesus argument in the sixties, as many former Foo Fighters’ fans went as far as to throw their albums in the bin after this “No vaccine, no gig” requirement.

This opinion isn’t limited to the fans either, as other well known musicians have come forward about their opinions on the vaccination and the Foo Fighters. Recently Cro-Mags front-man John Joseph very publicly called out the Foo Fighters for enforcing the vaccination policy. Dubbing them as the ‘Flu Pfizers’, he called out the band’s decisions as ‘Bullshit’, and even called out Foo Fighters’ front-man Dave Grohl himself, calling him an ‘ignorant punk’. Joseph is quoted saying;

“You’ve got motherfuckers like Dave Grohl, who used to play drums for Scream and open up for the Cro-Mags, now he’s with the Flu Pfizers, the Flu Fighters, and it’s like, ‘We’re playing vaccinated-only shows’. What kind of bullshit is that? What kind of fucking bullshit are you fucking dealing with in your fucking head that you would play a vaccinated-only fucking show? — Dave Grohl is an ignorant punk who needs to be slapped for supporting discrimination.”

It wasn’t just the Foo Fighters in Joseph’s firing line, he also called out another artist who he didn’t disclaim, but is suspected to be Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, claiming;

“I forget what the dude’s name is — he’s in some big fucking band — he’s, like, ‘I’m not playing any vaccinated-only shows.’ He was in a big English band; I forget what the name of them is.”

Well, it’s fair to say that Joseph is rather angry at these artists and isn’t a very big fan of this vaccination policy they’re implementing. However, despite not exactly putting an intelligent argument behind his statements there are many artists who share his opinion. One of the biggest artists who doesn’t stand by these policies is ‘Slowhand’ himself, Eric Clapton. Since the birth of the pandemic, Clapton has been very open about his opinions and his worries for the music industry. Last year he disagreed with the closure of many iconic venues, believing that, if not re-opened, he feared an end to live music forever.

In regards to the vaccination policy he has also been incredibly vocal about his concerns. Despite being fully vaccinated himself, the guitarists claimed the side effects of the vaccine made him fearful he would never pick up the guitar again;

“I took the first jab of AZ and straight away had severe reactions which lasted ten days. I recovered eventually and was told it would be twelve weeks before the second one.”

The guitarist details his vaccination as disastrous and even found himself blaming his experience on ‘propaganda’;

“About six weeks later I was offered and took the second AZ shot, but with a little more knowledge of the dangers. Needless to say the reactions were disastrous, my hands and feet were either frozen, numb or burning, and pretty much useless for two weeks. I feared I would never play again, (I suffer with peripheral neuropathy and should never have gone near the needle.) But the propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone.”

Clapton has now turned his attention to vaccination only concerts, and has dismissed them as ‘discriminatory’ towards music fans. Despite the government’s plans, Clapton has stated he will not perform anywhere that enforces these policies, claiming he doesn’t want to play where there is a “discriminated audience present”. He also said he felt “honour bound” to make this decision. It would appear that Clapton has now fully embraced the anti-vax culture, describing anti-vax politicians like Desmond Swayne as “heroes”, and even discussed his discovery of other like minded people on YouTube.

Despite anti-vax protests and the controversy around this vaccination passport, it would appear that the majority of people do in fact seem to be in support of both the vaccine and the policies surrounding it, in and out of the music industry. Judas Priest singer Rob Halford has stepped into the spotlight in an effort to convince people not to trust celebrities or politicians, but instead to put their trust in the scientists behind the vaccination, urging fans to get the vaccine as soon as possible;

“This is your Metal God, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, sending you a massive shout-out of thanks to our metal community for doing the right thing by getting the life-saving vaccine that will eventually eradicate COVID-19 around the world.”

So, is this vaccine only policy warranted or does it simply discriminate against fans who are sceptical about vaccines? Unfortunately it is a hard question to answer, as no one should be forced into something they do not trust or consent to. The vaccine requirements could be interpreted as a method to get people into doing something they do not want to do. However, at its core, vaccination is a method to combat a very real threat that we have been facing for some time now, and these safety measures are what will allow normal life to slowly return. At the end of the day we are still dealing with a pandemic.

The final point is this, whether you agree with the policy or not, audiences that gather in their thousands to see concerts are under the responsibility and care of both the artists and the venues that host them. If they fear for their audiences’ health, then they should at the very least have the right to enforce their own rules and safety measures for their events. As said before, it is a tricky question, but one that doesn’t apply to everyone. At the moment, in the UK alone over 46.5 million have received their first dose of the vaccine, over 37 million of which are fully vaccinated. With a population at roughly 60 million it would appear that the majority of residents stand by the vaccine, perhaps by the end of the year there won’t be so much of a divide between people. At the very least, we can hope so.