Live Nation plans coronavirus-safe, socially distant concert
Live Nation is planning its first-ever socially distant concert, with Travis McCready of Bishop Gunn, which will include screening all attendees and decreasing venue capacity by 80 percent. FOX Business' Kristina Partsinevelos with more.
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An Arkansas concert venue, which was scheduled to play host to an “intimate solo acoustic performance” by country-rock star Travis McCready on Friday, just postponed the controversial concert after it had its alcohol license pulled by state regulators who have said the venue was in defiance of the state’s ban on large gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic.
TempleLive, in Fort Smith, Ark., announced its decision to shelve McCready's performance on Thursday, after it was hit with an alcohol sale ban by the head of the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Division and the venue was ordered to comply with a cease-and-desist notice by the state’s health department to cancel or postpone the scheduled show before its license would be returned.
In the announcement, which came some two hours after the suspension of the sale of alcohol at the venue, TempleLive said it would move the Travis McCready show from Friday night to Monday, the day the state is allowing theaters, arenas and other indoor venues to reopen with limited restrictions.
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The venue space had plans for reducing its capacity from 1,100 down to 229 people. But the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) said the precautionary measures weren’t enough and weren’t even approved by the state ahead of time.
“At the end of the day, we fought the law and the laws won," Mike Brown, vice president of entertainment/clubs and theaters for Beaty Capital -- who owns the venue -- said at a news conference at the theater, a former Masonic Temple.
In a cease-and-desist order signed by Arkansas Secretary of Health Nathaniel Smith, and obtained by Fox News on Wednesday, the Arkansas Department of Health rebuffed the venue's attempt to move forward with the show and argued that the venue was notified it was not compliant with regulations well in advance of the proposed date in question.
"On May 5 and 6, 2020, ADH staff notified you that the planned indoor venue at TempleLive on May 15, 2020, with 229 persons in attendance was not compliant with Health Directives," the order reads. "On May 7, 2020, ADH staff notified you by phone through counsel, that you should postpone your event as it did not comply with the Health Directive."
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The order continues: "On May 11, 2020, I personally advised you by phone through counsel that you should postpone your event, and as of today's date, it is my understanding that you intend to violate the orders of the Governor and the Health Directive by holding your event on May 15."
Directives by the health department mandated that venues be closed until May 18 -- at the earliest -- and that they limit their audiences to no more than 50 people and maintain specific social-distancing guidelines.
Travis McCready of Bishop Gunn opens for Slash of Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators at Fabrique Club on March 8, 2019, in Milan, Italy. (Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images)
McCready’s originally scheduled performance would have fallen just three days before the restrictions were to be lifted.
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A spokesman for the regulator previously said the venue's permit would be returned if TempleLive confirmed it wouldn't proceed with the May 15 show. Otherwise, the state had planned for a June 3 hearing on whether or not the theater's permit would be revoked.
Arkansas is allowing indoor entertainment venues to reopen Monday, but with a 50-person audience limit. That restriction can be raised to one-third of a venue’s capacity -- but only if it submits a plan that is approved by the state beforehand.
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A representative for the theater did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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