Live Nation braces for lengthy concert hiatus
A major Las Vegas concert promoter is prepared to go to into 2021 without promoting another major concert until then.
Live Nation President Joe Berchtold said this week on CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” business-news show that the company can remain financially viable for up to 18 months during the COVID-19 concert shutdown.
Berchtold said fans can expect to wait at least a “handful of months” before large-scale shows return.
Asked specifically when the live-concert business would restart, he said, “That’s actually a question that can’t be answered right now.”
“There’s a long way to go,” Berchtold said. “We’ll be watching behavior where it is safe to be gathering, taking short-term measures to go for the next handful of months, certainly, without concerts.”
Berchtold said his company could remain in business for up to 18 months without promoting major concerts, with its combination of cash on hand, untapped debt, liquid assets and cost-reduction efforts.
Live Nation is a force in Las Vegas’ resident-headliner and music-festival industry. The company is the exclusive booking partner at Zappos Theater (which has presented Britney Spears, Pitbull, Gwen Stefani, Shania Twain, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys and Jennifer Lopez) and the Colosseum at Caesars Palace (where Reba and Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban, The Who, Sting and Morrissey have been on this year’s schedule).
Live Nation also partners with MGM Resorts International for the Lady Gaga, Aerosmith and Bruno Mars residencies at Park Theater. The company operates mass-gathering events in more than 40 countries, and stadium tours across the U.S., including the Def Leppard/Motley Crue/Poison series still scheduled for July through September.
In Las Vegas, Live Nation shows are being routinely pulled off the schedule through at least the end of May. The company had anticipated 2020 as the biggest year ever for live concerts and events. But Berchtold said that swell of fans likely won’t return for a year or even 15 months from now.
“We are highly confident that concerts in 2021, 2022 will be bigger than ever,” the executive said, adding that the specific start-up timeline depends on containing COVID-19 through social distancing, testing, treatment and an effective vaccine. “Artists and fans want to want to be comfortable and confident to go back to normal, thanks to a vaccine.”
Berchtold said the company will continue to link to artists’ performances online — Zac Brown Band is live on Instagram at 5 p.m. Sunday — and possibly develop a pay-per-view revenue model. He also noted that Live Nation venues might follow airports’ leads to create a health-scanning system, using a combination of temperature checks and tracing.
But fans will be back. It’s a matter of when, and how.
“People want to go to bars, go to concerts, I think they’ll want to get together in groups,” Berchtold said. “I do think that will continue over time.”
Sole train
Austin “Chumlee” Russell has always been a shoe guy.
He’s less of a shoe guy today.
The “Pawn Stars” co-star has sold about 20 pair of his kicks online, raising $3,500 for fans who need meals during the COVID-19 crisis. Earlier this month, Chumlee shed some of his extensive shoe collection on his Instagram Live feed, spending six straight days on the platform.
Chumlee offered mostly higher-end Nike Skateboarding (commonly known as Nike SB) shoes, then used the money to assist fans in need of support. He kicked in between $25 and $100 per request to buy folks meals, or to use as grocery money.
“I asked for their stories, I asked about their families, how many were involved and what conditions they were in,” Chumlee said. “I transferred money into Venmo or PayPal accounts. It was just, I saw all these shoes I’m never going to wear and thought, ‘What can I do with these?’ and it just went from there to Instagram. It was really organic.”
Virtual Cool Hang Alert
Jazz piano great Mike “Jonesy” Jones of the Penn & Teller show is brilliant in his ongoing “Quarantine Series.” I’ve been following along on Instagram @Jonesjazzmusic. Jonesy’s duet with multi-instrumentalist Christian Tamburr, on vibes, is an inspiration. Check it out.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats! podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.