After more than a year of darkened stages and idle performers, audiences are streaming into live venues again, and performers are thrilled to resume a steady income.
Welcome to the autumn of the vaccine mandate showdowns. Let’s survey the shifting battleground. A government-imposed vaccine mandate for all citizens remains off the table, at least for now. Requirements that government employees get a shot seem to have a stronger legal basis, but resistance is bubbling among the ranks of municipal police and fire departments. Even the military has heard some grumbles. President Joe Biden has demanded that companies with more than 100 employees require vaccines—threatening federal punishment for those that don’t comply—but the enforcement structures for that plan are still under construction. Some of the largest private companies that established a vaccine requirement are feeling the heat of pushback. Most notable are the airlines—the holiday travel season is now threatened by pilot and flight crew protests that could ground significant portions of their flying fleets. In the dwindling segment of private businesses and events that remain free to enact rules of their choice, the public is commensurately free to react accordingly. Few environments have yielded results as diverse as the blossoming return of live concerts. After more than a year of darkened stages and idle performers, audiences are streaming into live venues again, and performers are thrilled to resume a steady income. But the first policy hurdle on the way to scheduling a national tour is determining what to require of the public in terms of vaccination status. When Dave Grohl announced that his Foo Fighters would play a June 20 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, exuberant fans snapped up tickets with a rush undimmed by the requirement of full vaccination status. But as attendees trickled through the gates flashing their vax worthiness, a small but loud cohort of protesters registered bitter disappointment.
