Scientists have been working really hard since the health crisis broke out to come up with effective treatments and vaccines against Covid-19. Others are carrying out different experimentations to assess the contamination risk in show and concert venues. This is what has been planned this spring in France. This February 15, 2021, invited on LCI, Roselyne Bachelot announced test concerts are to be held in cities of Marseille and Paris in March and April 2021. “We’re working on it. I’m very optimistic for seated festival, fingers crossed, but I take all the precautions in the world” the Minister of Culture explains.

The minister yet added these test concerts will only occur “under some conditions” such as France is not experiencing “catastrophic health situation” and if protocols are approved.

2021 Summer Festivals: festivals to be limited to 5,000 seated festivalgoers and in the open air
As better days are coming, many people are wondering if this summer’s major festivals will take place as scheduled or not. Following a new meeting with festival promotors, minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot said open air festivals will only be allowed with maximum 5,000 festivalgoers. Furthermore, festivalgoers will have to be seated. Here is more on the matter.

Thus, what is to be expected from these first test concerts with a crowd in France, organized in partnership with INSERM? According to Bachelot, two experimental concerts are to be held “in the second week of March” at Marseille Dôme. The 1,000 people expected will have to be seated “but allowed to stand up”. IAM already revealed the band will be headlining one of the shows in Marseille. As for the protocol instated, masked participants will be tested prior to the concert and positive cases “will not be filtered because we have to put ourselves in the situation of a mix” Bachelot said. And then, new tests will be performed after the concert.

And what about Paris? The minister said it will be a “standing show to be tested at the Accor Arena venue with Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP). It will be very interesting to see because these are the most problematic concerts”, she explained. The show is likely to be held in April. And according to Le Figaro, Indochine could be the live band playing on this occasion.

• To be read
• 2021 Summer Festivals: festivals to be limited to 5,000 seated festivalgoers and in the open air

After both test concerts, a big European scientific symposium is to be held in Marseille on April 8 where “the different experimentations will be compared”.

For the record, other countries have already carried out such experimentations. This is the case of Spain, in mid-December 2020. The idea was to hold a “test concert” in Barcelona with a very strict health protocol and test participants a few days later in order to find out if a cluster broke out during the show. Outcome? Eight days after the event, no volunteer tested positive for Coronavirus. This is what Spanish daily El Mundo stated.

In concrete words, during this test – held by famous Spanish festival Primavera Sound – strict measures have been instated on site in order to prevent likely contamination. Therefore, the test included 1,047 people. 463 of them went to a show held in a 900-seat venue, and the 496 others did not. Prior to the event, volunteers taking part in the show had to take a Covid-19 screen test. Once on site, FFP2 mask-wearing was compulsory. Other measures? The room was aired as well as possible and the room temperature was thoroughly monitored.

Following this experimentation, scientists noticed that the 463 in the arena tested negative for Covid-19. Yet, in the other 496, two of them tested positive. What did the instigators conclude on the experimentation? If strict health protocol is instated and complied with, there is not a lot more contamination risks during an event with a lot of people.