Touring is back, baby, and I am going to rock this summer.

It looks like the music touring industry is back in business, even here in Mexico.  The numbers are off the charts.  If you live in New York City, over the next 6 months you will have approximately 3,400 concerts to choose from;  if you live in LA, the number is 2,900; and even the much smaller (but really hot and creative) Nashville boasts almost  1,250 live concerts in the next 6 months (numbers according to Songkick).

But it is the Mexico numbers that really interest me since I live in Mexico and Covid response has been different here than in the USA. The numbers appear much smaller because many of Mexico’s venues are not registered with global ticket dealers so they don’t show up on Songkick or other statistical platforms. Nevertheless, if you live in or go to Mexico city for music in the next 6 months, you have your choice of over 367 big arena and concert hall-style concerts. That is over two a day – and that is just the ones that the online ticket sellers know about.  The true number is likely twice that.

Among the acts touring Mexico and booked for  large crowds in that nation’s capital include 

Justin Beiber, Iron Maiden, Dua Lipa. Foo Fighters. Coldplay with H.E.R (an interesting pairing), The Killers, Greta Van Fleet, 5 Seconds of Summer, The Strokes, and Belinda Carlisle. And that doesn’t include the global Latin acts like Bad Bunny or the national Mexican bands like  Imasol and Keel and festivals.

Closer to home, in Guadalajara (about an hour from my town), I get to pick from 112 arena concerts including Kings of Leon, Bunbury,  Roosevelt, Jessie and Joy, Justin Beiber, Coldplay & H.E.R., 5 Seconds of Summer, and The Killers, plus dozens of global Latin acts like Ricky Martin and local and national Mexican stars.  The same is true in Monterrey – 94 concerts with stars like Mon Laferte, Yuri, Slipknot, the Mexico Metal Fest, Jonas Brothers,  Roger Waters, Yuri, and Gloria Trevi.  A buffet of musica.

So are we back to normal?  In Mexico, it feels like it.  However, as of this week, there were 312,965 reported Covid deaths – the world’s fifth-highest total – and an accumulated total of 5.3 million infections, according to the Mexico News Daily, quoting government sources (which no one believes because of the low reporting rates).  Nevertheless, most experts agree that Covid is on the decline in Mexico, although probably not the 48% decline claimed by the Federal government.

As far as music is concerned, life is back to normal. Most venues advertise “Covid protocols are in place” and require either masks or vaccinations, but strictness can vary with the city or the venue (and sometimes the act). Venues in many tourist cities like Puerto Vallarta or Cancun still ask for proof of vaccinations and masks for indoor venues because of the high throughput of visitors from other countries and off cruise ships.  

This contrasts with Live Nation, which is requiring all ticket holders, artists, and crews to show proof of vaccination in the US., but this doesn’t seem to have slowed things down.   Regardless of the venue or even the country, the tour business is back and outdoor concerts and festivals are on.  The music industry seems to have figured out how to navigate the virus. One example of this is that two weeks after Lollapalooza, the Chicago Department of Public Health announced no COVID-19 hospitalizations or other factors indicating that the festival had any impact on infections in that city.

But, as the touring industry and the outdoor venues ramp up, indoor venues, especially small and medium-sized venues that launch early careers and provide a living for midlist bands, closed by the hundreds and a Yelp survey found that 60% of those that closed will stay closed regardless of the state of  Covid infections. In my own town, the losses were small, and at least one venue has actually expanded and is now booking touring talent or acts from Guadalajara or Puerto Vallarta, as well as the local artists. 

While some residents are still a little reticent to crowd into a midsized or small venue to dance and shout, there is no shortage of rock and jazz and fusion pouring out onto the street on weekend nights,  and of course banda and frontera and mariachi and cumbia and rap en Espanol every night.

So touring is back, baby, and we are going to rock this summer.