Live Nation updated its COVID-19 policy to require concert-goers, artists, and crew to show proof of vaccination or a negative test at all its venues and festivals.
The entertainment industry giant previously announced this decision would be up to the artists; however, with the Delta variant surging and Chicago’s Lollapalooza successfully implementing the model in July, Live Nation decided to make these stricter policies mandatory starting in October, “where permitted by law.”
“Vaccines are going to be your ticket back to shows, and as of October 4th we will be following the model we developed for Lollapalooza and requiring this for artists, fans and employees at Live Nation venues and festivals everywhere possible in the US,” Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement.
Additionally, all Live Nation employees must get vaccinated by Oct. 4 in order to visit any of the company’s offices, venues or events.
The model “was designed to encourage vaccination,” which certainly was the case with Lollapalooza. The festival proved not to be a superspreader event, despite hosting hundreds of thousands of festival-goers over a four-day period, because 90% of attendees were vaccinated.
“Twelve percent of fans said Lolla was actually their reason for getting vaccinated – which is a huge number with 400k attendees throughout the weekend,” a spokesperson told NBC News.
The news comes after AEG announced full vaccination is required to attend any of its events.
