There's a sense of optimism in Australia right now that life is beginning to edge back towards normal.
Restrictions around gatherings have begun to ease in some states, with more movement expected when the National Cabinet meets on Friday.
But sources told the ABC last month that restrictions would likely be lifted in reverse, meaning getting up close and sweaty at a music festival might be one of the last aspects of pre-COVID life to return.
Still, some festivals are pushing ahead with dates for later this year, despite uncertainty around how to safely mingle even if public gathering laws are eased and what the spread of the virus will look in the second half of 2020.
So, what are the considerations involved, and how and when might music festivals return?
Falls returns with all-Australian line-up
Falls Festival announced on Wednesday it would "move forward with optimism" with its New Year's Eve events in Byron Bay, Lorne, Fremantle and Marion Bay.
The line-up, as yet unannounced, will be all-Australian and the shows will raise money for Support Act, a charity helping music industry workers facing financial or emotional hardship.
Falls co-producers Jess Ducrou and Paul Piticco said:
But Australia's Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy has said that social distancing measures would likely remain in place until there is a coronavirus vaccine, which has been consistently estimated at 12-18 months away.
Last week, University of Queensland virologist Ian Mackay told triple j's Hack program it would be a "mistake" to have gatherings or hundreds of thousands of people until there was a vaccine.
Host of the Health Report on RN Dr Norman Swan has also said festivals, where staying 1.5 metres from other people might be a challenge, would not return "anytime soon".
More pressing than Falls is the fate of one of Australia's largest music festivals, Splendour In The Grass, which is run by the same group, promoter Secret Sounds.
Earlier this year, as restrictions around public gatherings increased, Splendour pushed its July festival to the last weekend of October.
Its website currently states it is going ahead with the same line-up, including international headliners The Strokes and Tyler, The Creator, despite borders currently being closed to all non-citizens and non-residents.
The ABC has contacted Secret Sounds for comment.
Nicholas Greco of Untitled Group, which puts on various tours and events including the New Year's festival Beyond The Valley, suggested there was a way festivals could go ahead safely.
"Perhaps there's a world where patrons would have their temperature checked upon entry [and] practise hygiene measures and social distancing from each other," he said.
"We're going to leave that to the experts but we are definitely open to looking at creative ways we can operate larger events."
Beyond The Valley, in regional Victoria, last year hosted Tyler, The Creator, RUFUS DU SOL, Meg Mac and others.
Asked if the 2020/21 festival would go ahead, Mr Greco said:
"No-one can know for sure what's going to happen in the next 6-12 months but at this stage, we are still planning and booking for all of our end-of-year festivals and events and are prepared to work within any of the government social distancing guidelines presented to us."
Social distancing at festivals will be hard: promoter
Veteran concert promoter Michael Chugg said he thought Falls Festival would have a good chance of pulling off a New Year's Eve event, given it was seven months away.
"If it [coronavirus] doesn't come back in a big way, yes, there could be festivals by the end of the year, and one would hope so," he told RN Breakfast.
"But there are going to be a lot of restrictions."
He said facilitating social distancing at festival bars, food outlets and toilets would be a challenge.
A food provider who has worked at numerous music festivals, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said stallholders may be able to work safely using commonsense measures and putting staff behind screens, but that mosh pits were another story.
Mr Chugg said: "You'd have to arrange the barriers and so forth so that in an area in front of the stage you put 2,000 people and you police it so that there is a metre, or whatever the rule is, between each person in those areas," he said.
"How do you put the campsites together with a couple of metres between each one?"
But Mr Chugg said the economics of an all-Australian event would "definitely" stack up.
"Without the huge fees of international acts, promoters would be able to make it a lot better economically for the punters," he said.
He also believed it would not be hard to find Australian talent to pull off a quality line-up.
The question of whether people will feel comfortable going to a crowded music festival, when they do return, is hard to answer.
However, a survey by triple j of 1,500 of its listeners found 57 per cent would consider going to a festival even before a vaccine was available.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTA1LTA3L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXJlc3RyaWN0aW9ucy1ob3ctc29vbi13aWxsLW11c2ljLWZlc3RpdmFscy1yZXR1cm4vMTIyMjMwMjbSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTIyMjMwMjY?oc=5
2020-05-07 07:00:17Z
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