The word of the week is CANCELLED. School is cancelled. Church is cancelled. Graduation is cancelled. Weddings are cancelled. Funerals are cancelled. Public gatherings are cancelled. Concerts are cancelled. Festivals are cancelled. It feels as if the entire Spring and Summer seasons themselves are just flat-out cancelled.
The Coronavirus Pandemic has uprooted all of our lives. Where we once shunned the over usage of technology, we praise it for being the only thing keeping all of us connected. Where we were all so used to going out to eat or go to bars, we feel lucky to even be able to take a walk in our neighborhood. Where we once spent our Spring and Summer weekends with friends at concerts and festivals, we will now be spending them in our homes live-streaming shows while on a ZOOM call with our friends.
(Refer to my article titled, Quarantine Concerts: A Taste of Normalcy, to see which artists have performed live shows and where you can view them)
With everything being cancelled and everyone having to scratch their calendars, it may feel like all hope is lost. But, let me be the one to tell you that it is not. If you are reading this, there is a good chance that means you are healthy and at home versus laying in a hospital bed fighting for your life. There can always be another show, another festival; but there can never be another YOU. It is weird and truthfully, sometimes depressing to not be able to leave your home and hangout with your friends. But this is just a season and like all others that came before and will come after, it too shall pass. In the wise words of Fun. – “If you’re lost and alone. Or you’re sinking like a stone. Carry on.”
For all you concert and festival lovers out there, from now on when you think “cancelled,” train your brain to instead think “postponed.” These shows may not be happening now, but when it is safer for all the fans and artists to be out there doing what they love—they will be there. Many tours have not yet been rescheduled, but festivals have.
Festival season used to mean Summer season. This year it is taking on a role. May we introduce to you, for the first time ever, Fall Festival Season. Yes, the wait is going to be longer but come on, who ISN’T excited to not feel like they are dying under the hellish sun of the Summer?
Think about it—A festival where you can actually wear cute outfits and makeup without worrying about sweating everything off. A festival where you don’t mind being pressed together in the pit with strangers because you no longer feel like you are going to have a heat stroke. A festival where you can leave without sunburn. I am not seeing any cons here.
Remember to be thankful for your health today. Remember that this will all be over soon. Remember that your favorite artists and festivals are still just around the corner.
See below to find the new dates of some of the most popular Spring and Summer festivals.
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival: (Indio, CA) October 9–11 and 16–18
Shaky Knees Music Festival: (Atlanta, GA) October 16–18
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival: (Manchester, TN) September 24–27
(LockN’ Festival: (Arrington, VA) October 1-4
Stagecoach Festival: (Indio, CA) October 23-25
Treefort Music Fest: (Boise, ID) September 23-27
J. Cole’s Dreamville Music Fest: (Raleigh, NC) August 29
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival: (New Orleans, LO) TBA Fall 2020
Frisson Frets 