Van Morrison criticizes socially distant concerts, says “fight the pseudo-science”

Judy Moreno

With the pandemic still resulting in several coronavirus cases and with the potential of reinfection, concerts as we know them are still nonexistent (and may not return until 2022), but in the meantime, some venues have experimented with socially distant shows. Van Morrison recently announced a few socially distanced gigs for this September, though he now issued a statement on his website about the shows, which he believes are "not the answer going forward. We need to be playing to full capacity audiences going forward." He also asked other music industry figures to "fight the pseudo-science," though he doesn't elaborate on what exactly he means by that.

Here's his full statement:

As you know, we are doing socially distanced gigs at Newcastle Upon Tyne’s Gosforth Park, Electric Ballroom and The London Palladium. This is not a sign of compliance or acceptance of the current state of affairs, this is to get my band up and running and out of the doldrums. This is also not the answer going forward. We need to be playing to full capacity audiences going forward.

I call on my fellow singers, musicians, writers, producers, promoters and others in the industry to fight with me on this.

Come forward, stand up, fight the pseudo-science and speak up.

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and myself appear to be the only people in the music business trying to get it back up and running again. Come forward.

It’s not economically viable to do socially distanced gigs. Come forward now, the future is now.

We would like to publish a list of names of all those who are supporting the industry. If you would like your name included contact us at [email protected].

As The Guardian reports, Van Morrison has faced some fan backlash for these comments, though it does not appear that any prominent music industry figures have responded yet. Stay tuned for any further updates.