Primavera Sound 2020

[xxialac]

44 minutes ago, lighthouse said:

They better push this to next year instead of grasping at straws. 2020 is lost, how hard it may sound. 

 

The point I was making was that if August is lost, next year is lost equally.

Nothing is likely to change between now and May that makes large social gatherings not give rise to a spike in the transmission.

On the plus side (for humanity not the festivals) a new report out suggests that key to improving the quarantine situation is with the strongest hygiene training. The more you wash hands, the more likely you are to have a better outcome even if you get infected. This is significant. It seems also as though the fatality rate is lower than had been forecast too.

Politicians will 100% want to loosen controls, agreed. A votewinner. And ever more so, or getting business back to normality. An economy-saver. The one thing they might sacrifice is mass events which is why festivals like PS and (attended) sport events etc. may only happen post-vaccine.

Edited April 9, 2020 by xxialac

[Guy Incognito]

9 minutes ago, xxialac said:

Politicians will 100% want to loosen controls, agreed. A votewinner. And ever more so, ore business to normality. An economy-saver. The one thing they might sacrifice is mass events which is why festivals like PS and (attended) sport events etc. may only happen post-vaccine.

100% agree with this. I'm certain that we won't see any Primavera Sound even this year. 

[The Crimson King]

1 hour ago, xxialac said:

The point I was making was that if August is lost, next year is lost equally.

Nothing is likely to change between now and May that makes large social gatherings not give rise to a spike in the transmission.

On the plus side (for humanity not the festivals) a new report out suggests that key to improving the quarantine situation is with the strongest hygiene training. The more you wash hands, the more likely you are to have a better outcome even if you get infected. This is significant. It seems also as though the fatality rate is lower than had been forecast too.

Politicians will 100% want to loosen controls, agreed. A votewinner. And ever more so, or getting business back to normality. An economy-saver. The one thing they might sacrifice is mass events which is why festivals like PS and (attended) sport events etc. may only happen post-vaccine.

The Dutch announced earlier this week that whilst they will look at an exit strategy, and try to get things back to somewhat normality, all businesses should prepare for the 1.5m distance rule to be part of society for quite sometime. 

This from a country with ‘intelligent lockdown’ and shops still open, certainly doesn’t bode well for festivals and events anywhere well into 2021 and beyond 

Edited April 9, 2020 by The Crimson King

[puckno]

So, on a practical note; festivals in my country - planned to go ahead in june, with an international lineup -  just announced full refund opportuntities. However this come with a twist -  they intend to release the lineup for 2021 already in may-june this year, and they will not execute any refunds until they are ready with this.

In many ways it is a smart move: putting juicy names from the 2021 lineup out increase the probability of people wanting to transfer their tickets to 2021. It also gives some revenues from the early bird tickets, to help pay for the refund money they might not have. And it adds something positive to the narrative, 'it is not all dismay - look at what we got for 2021'.

So my point is.... at this stage the Primavera staff maybe should use their precious home office time to focus on 2021, to be prepared for the inevitable and help to form a (despite everything) positive narrative when they get out of their isolation and have to be a bearer of bad news.

[xxialac]

Sounds good but people are already frothing at the bit wanting their refund now.

No way would Primavera be able to get their 'positive' 2021 lineup ready by May/June which is just going to make those waiting for a refund every more angry!

[Orens]

Probably pointless in a PS thread, but hey - the new Strokes album has arrived

https://open.spotify.com/album/2xkZV2Hl1Omi8rk2D7t5lN?si=MrbmAU_9SIOx93Hw_5MS5g

[xxialac]

15 minutes ago, Orens said:

Probably pointless in a PS thread, but hey - the new Strokes album has arrived

https://open.spotify.com/album/2xkZV2Hl1Omi8rk2D7t5lN?si=MrbmAU_9SIOx93Hw_5MS5g

Looking at the song titles, is this their COVID-19 concept album?

[puckno]

2 hours ago, xxialac said:

No way would Primavera be able to get their 'positive' 2021 lineup ready by May/June

I did not of course not suggest to wait for all 250 names but e.g. 10-20 good names. There are a lot of artists rescheduling their tours to 2021 these days, should not be too difficult to come up with something great.

Edited April 9, 2020 by puckno

[charlierc]

20 hours ago, The Crimson King said:

The Dutch announced earlier this week that whilst they will look at an exit strategy, and try to get things back to somewhat normality, all businesses should prepare for the 1.5m distance rule to be part of society for quite sometime. 

This from a country with ‘intelligent lockdown’ and shops still open, certainly doesn’t bode well for festivals and events anywhere well into 2021 and beyond 

I find the idea of a moshpit where everyone has to maintain at least a 1.5m distance from everyone else at all times quite amusing. Wildly impractical to the point of impossible, but would still be something.

But yeah this is a bad sign for any mass gatherings happening anywhere for a while.

[xxialac]

9 hours ago, puckno said:

I did not of course not suggest to wait for all 250 names but e.g. 10-20 good names. There are a lot of artists rescheduling their tours to 2021 these days, should not be too difficult to come up with something great.

Ah, makes sense. Good thinking. Maybe that's what they are doing behind the scenes?

Delay paying people refunds, whilst setting this up as a 'plan B' i.e. simultaneously evaluate further whether August can go ahead whilst preparing to announce a good set of 2021 headliners if not. Would limit returns and preserve their much needed cash position. You're completely right, would be a smart move.

On a separate note, they are surely pulling the plug on Primavera LA. Wonder if it will ever happen now...

 

[duckula]

I just want a refund at this point, Primavera can't predict the future. The rest of this year should be written off when it comes to music festivals.

[xxialac]

Germany too looks to be going for a solution that means no mass gatherings for 2020 (which could of course get extended).

https://amp.france24.com/en/20200406-germany-outlines-plan-for-scaling-back-coronavirus-lockdown

Hard to see Spain following a different approach and allowing mass gatherings. Nothing to gain, everything to lose...

[nsv92]

I wonder when we will be pleased with the announcement of "alternatives". how much longer should we wait?

[Float]

You’d like to think that they’ll at least offer the option of refunds to those who purchased tickets from abroad. It’s not as simple as just changing your weekends plan to later in the year in our case. If I lived in BCN I would have no problems with a revised date. 

[Chilly Toad]

Fusion Festival cancelled. Reason, as given by the organizers:

"Wir hätten natürlich mit der Absage warten können, bis diese von der Politik angewiesen wird, aber wir wollen in dieser Situation selbstbestimmt entscheiden und sehen die Höhere Gewalt, auch ohne Anordnung der Behörden, zweifelsfrei als gegeben."

"We could have waited until politics ordered us to cancel. However, we wanted to decide ourselves and consider force majeure to be given, even without an order from politics."

Tickets are valid for the 2021 edition or will be refunded 100%.

[xxialac]

39 minutes ago, Chilly Toad said:

Fusion Festival cancelled. Reason, as given by the organizers:

"Wir hätten natürlich mit der Absage warten können, bis diese von der Politik angewiesen wird, aber wir wollen in dieser Situation selbstbestimmt entscheiden und sehen die Höhere Gewalt, auch ohne Anordnung der Behörden, zweifelsfrei als gegeben."

"We could have waited until politics ordered us to cancel. However, we wanted to decide ourselves and consider force majeure to be given, even without an order from politics."

Tickets are valid for the 2021 edition or will be refunded 100%.

Not necessarily comparable. A different country. Maybe different rules for insurance etc?

Also they said one of the reasons not to be able to postpone was that the logistics were too complex. Maybe Primavera felt they had the experience, resource and band pulling-power to handle the logistics. Ditto Coachella.

[activean]

Spoke to some guys working in accelerating/promoting tourism today, and it doesn't look good. 

Probably the whole summer season is pretty much lost (festivals included) except more regional tourism and maybe early autumn season, there is not even guaranty that the same thing wont repeat next year in some smaller way. 

 

Sad as f**k, we took too much of everything for granted and were moaning about every little thing. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by activean

[jaredean]

Talk of closing borders to US (and other countries) until September would for sure put a crimp on things:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarathiessen/2020/04/11/europe-borders-may-close-to-september-due-to-us-covid-19-threat/#55ab1aa8431f

Edited April 11, 2020 by jaredean

[xxialac]

10 minutes ago, jaredean said:

Talk of closing borders to US (and other countries) until September would for sure put a crimp on things:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarathiessen/2020/04/11/europe-borders-may-close-to-september-due-to-us-covid-19-threat/#55ab1aa8431f

That seems extremely unlikely. Would kill the aviation sector, which is already struggling. Introducing strict controls at the airports seems more likely to me.

[emmanuel]

Well I hope not, my partner lives in France and I am in stuck in the UK right now.

[The Crimson King]

Airlines will only be able to fly again if they observe social distancing. Delta in the US have already begun to do this by not selling the middle seat. I suspect August/September is a reasonable estimate for this to happen in Europe. 

[zahidf]

https://www.abc.es/cultura/abci-varias-aseguradoras-festivales-incluyeron-enero-coronavirus-como-clausula-para-no-cubrir-cancelaciones-202004091323_noticia.html

Seems to say that Spanish insurance companies said they wouldn't cover Covid19 based cancellations.

[ghostdancer1]

over 2 weeks and still no word on refunds....

[xxialac]

1 hour ago, The Crimson King said:

Airlines will only be able to fly again if they observe social distancing. Delta in the US have already begun to do this by not selling the middle seat. I suspect August/September is a reasonable estimate for this to happen in Europe. 

There is no way that you can get on a plane and observe social distancing.  The whole airport/plane experience is about being regularly cramped. Check-in, security queues, waiting rooms, buses to the plane, boarding, going to the toilet, disembarking , waiting at the carousel. 

Denying the middle seat is a start (although still leaves a gap of, what, 1 metre not 2) but even with that in place this becomes pure fakery and theatre.

And the airlines' business model is dependent on flying full planes. If they can only sell a bit more than half the seats, it's cheaper to keep the planes grounded.

At some point they will have to pretend that flying is ok and go with more implementable measures like thermal screening and compulsory masks. And that has to be soon as the airlines are too big to fail, make most of their money in the Summer and need to be financially supported.

 

[puckno]

1 hour ago, The Crimson King said:

Delta in the US have already begun to do this by not selling the middle seat. I suspect August/September is a reasonable estimate for this to happen in Europe. 

Also Lufthansa block the middle seat https://onemileatatime.com/lufthansa-blocks-middle-seats/