Music festivals and concerts could be 'out of the question' until next year

If you still have tickets burning a hole in your pocket for a concert or festival in the second half of this year, you may still end up disappointed, as it’s been revealed large gatherings could remain off the table until 2021.

Despite some states in Australia beginning to ease some of the social distancing restrictions, music festivals and indoor concerts are likely to be two of the last types of public gatherings to be permitted.

Australia's top doctor, professor Brendan Murphy stressed that those kinds of events are “out of the question” until there is a cure or vaccine, the ABC reported.

“It's hard for me to envisage reopening of nightclubs and big music festivals in the foreseeable future,” he said previously.

“Unless you're absolutely, completely confident about your borders, your testing, your surveillance, you can't relax a measure of distancing.”

And while the Australia Government looks to review coronavirus restrictions at a national cabinet meeting on May 11, the Australian Hotels Association has said pubs and hotels are already trying to consider how things are going to work.

“Live music is a real difficult one. Possibly seated. A lot of hotels are giving real consideration to everything,” the association's NSW chief executive officer John Whelan said.

“They all accept social distancing is here to stay for a while.”

The outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic saw the cancellation and or postponement of major events in Australia and around the world.

The Tokyo Olympic Games have been postponed until 2021, while closer to home, the recent school holidays seemed a little less fun after the iconic Easter Show was cancelled for the first time in nearly a century.

It’s likely our summer festival schedule won’t go ahead either.

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