How "Corona-Proof" is "Corona-Proof"?

Don Diablo

When Dutch DJ Don Diablo played one such show in Germany, critics had questions.

Another effort at concert promotion took place on June 27 when Dutch DJ Don Diablo played a “Corona-proof” show in Cologne, Germany.  Only 900 people were allowed into the 20,000-seat Lanxess Arena, where guests were encouraged but not required to wear masks. Seating areas were set up five feet apart from each other and walled-off with clear plastic barriers. To avoid spreading the virus, people who came together were supposed to stay together. 

Needless to say, critics were unimpressed and pointed out that if masks weren’t mandatory and concertgoers weren’t tested or required to show proof that they tested negative for Coronavirus, there’s no way to say the show was Corona-proof. 

A Tweet by Don Diablo showed a picture of the crowd that looked as though the barriers had been ignored …

… but a video Don Diablo released after the show makes the floor seating clearer, and opens the possibility that the perspective made the Tweet photo misleading. 

Or maybe not. This shot of the audience in the stands makes it look as though the groups of fans are closer than five feet apart—and why five and not six?—but the lights and the grainy video doesn’t answer that definitively. 

In the video, Don Diablo reflects on the show and says without a hint of irony, “Maybe this is the break we all needed to get closer to one another.”

Right now, efforts at concert production still feel like novelties, one-off shows by artists whose profiles could use a bump. We’ll get a clearer picture of what is possible when an artist who has more on the line gets in the “safe” concert business.