In his latest blog installment, Robb Flynn said that MACHINE HEAD shows probably won’t resume until summer of 2022.
“This pandemic, like nearly all pandemics, will last 18 to 24 months,” Robb wrote. “It’s going to come in waves. We’re gonna be hunkered down for a while, then we’re going to be able to lighten up some of the restrictions. Then it’s going to kick back in and we’re gonna have to hunker down, quarantine, shelter in place, social distance. Only to then will free things up, again at least to some degree, and then a third wave will probably come… and by then we will have the routine down so it will likely be under control, with the vaccine that’s wildly available to the general public.”
“Concerts will be the last thing that are allowed to happen,” he continued. “The large public gatherings that we’ve grown accustomed to? These things will never be the same. And like what happened during the Spanish flu of 1918, even when it ends, people are not going to be ready to go back to normal anyway.
“Rock Clubs and Venues will have to cut down capacities by at least half.
“Metal fans will be the most resilient of all the fan bases. I have zero question that they will be the first to return, determined to go back to shows, maybe to a fault (LOL), and for that I’m unbelievably grateful.
“Pop and hip-hop audience often spend a lot more at shows than metal folks, insane amounts of money for ‘highroller seats’, but with very little dedication to the artist/act.
“Sadly, we metal fans will also likely be most affected by this pandemic, as we are the one audience that is often struggling to live paycheck to paycheck.
“It’s hard to accept the length of something like this, but the sooner that we can wrap our heads around it, the better we will likely be,” Robb added. “This false notion that in just a few months we’re going to get ‘back to business,’ is good for a soundbite on Facebook, but bad for making realistic plans.
“I myself have been able to keep a far more positive mindset knowing that MACHINE HEAD shows will probably not resume until summer of 2022, and that we will likely not get fully back on track until 2024, if we ever get back on track AT ALL!
“We’ve gotta plan far ahead. We’ve got to figure out other ways to pay the bills.
“Let’s face it, most music industry folks (record biz, crew, promotion, etc.) will most likely change jobs entirely and do something else for the rest of their lives. This of course happens as the record business takes another hit. Clubs, venues, promoters, a lot of life as we knew it… it’s all going to be decimated. Look at all the Euro festivals that have already been cancelled.
“And look, I’ll say it here, I hope I’m wrong about the length of time. I would love to be wrong about this. But listening to people like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Ezekiel Emanuel…. It makes me think otherwise.
“Oh wait, that’s right we can’t listen to Fauci because he’s trying to undermine Trump. Now there’s a whole #FauciFraud, #FireFauci from all of these right-wing conspiracy nut balls.”
Dr. Ezekiel “Zeke” Emanuel, a special adviser to the director general of the World Health Organization, has once again said that he doesn’t anticipate it to be safe to return to concerts, sporting events and other mass public gatherings for another 18 months.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Emanuel said: “If 1% of the population has COVID-19 and half are asymptomatic, that’s 250 people in a stadium of 50,000, all touching chairs, eating food, talking and jumping and shouting. Is there is a better place for spreading disease?”
“Going back to those situations, for all of us who love concerts, it’s hard to see how to do that without a vaccine.”
