SAN DIEGO – At the La Jolla Music Society’s The Conrad, it’s been more than a year since musicians last performed for a crowd on the indoor stage.
“It’s a very quiet building with no one around,” La Jolla Music Society President and CEO Todd Schultz said.
But that’s soon about to change. Starting Thursday, indoor concerts, theater performances and other private gatherings have the green light to resume operations with restrictions in California.
Venues holding up to 1,500 people in counties in the state’s orange reopening tier are limited to 15% or 200 people but are allowed up to 35% if all attendees are fully vaccinated or test negative for COVID-19. For larger venues, capacity only is 10%, though it’s also allowed to swell to 35% for vaccinated and COVID negative crowds.
Health officials are discouraging people from yelling, singing and even booing.
Schultz said guests now are going to need proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to walk indoors for a concert.
“We’re developing a process for collecting — electronically — the proof of vaccination so we can store in on record of the accounts of our patrons in the system,” he said. “They only need to provide it once.”
Like many venues, he said their music has gone to streaming online and only last weekend live music concerts became available in the courtyard with restrictions.
He said generous donations have kept them alive.
“In the past year, our earned income from the box office has essentially been zero,” Schultz said.
Several San Diego music venues told FOX 5 they’re not bringing the tunes indoors quite yet for a few weeks or possibly months.
Many venues are banking on the possible reopening date of June 15 in California doing away with the tier system, meaning each chair would be filled and summer festival concerts could return.
“We are thrilled that restrictions are lifting for the Summer Fest season to happen,” Schultz said.