As the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the live music industry, enterprising artists and venues around the country are being forced to think outside the box when it comes to playing for an audience.
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The most recent innovative solution? Drive-in concerts, which have started springing up as an alternative to standing in a packed crowd to see your favorite musician.
From an underground show in Los Angeles to Keith Urban becoming the first major star to hop on the trend, Billboard has rounded up a list of drive-in concerts across the country since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. We'll update this list as more drive-in shows are announced.
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“In the beginning, everyone was a little reluctant and a little hesitant, so we dipped our toes in and you know, with every moment we continued to find success and got a lot of positive feedback from the artists and fans,” Harding said. “Now the artists that may have been reluctant in the beginning are calling us saying they want to get involved.”
During its 2020 run, Drive-In OC was able to increase its capacity from 236 to 300 vehicles and improve upon its app-based food, beverage and artist merchandise system that had staff in masks and wearing gloves delivering carefully packaged goods directly to patrons vehicles.
“We recognized early on that these were the things that were going to be key to these experiences,” he said, noting that they evolved to more contactless ticket scanning and temperature checks at the restrooms. They also added nylon tape in between rows of vehicles to serve as a visual barrier to remind guests to stay within their designated areas.
With COVID-19 vaccines just starting to be distributed in the United States, all of the drive-in concert promoters said they felt hopeful for the future and that full-scale, in-person live entertainment would eventually make a comeback. However, they’re all being cautiously optimistic and will continue to book drive-in style concerts at least into the summer months.
“This gives people a sense of normalcy,” Harding said. “People are tired of sitting at home, staring at their walls and they are anxious to get out and do something. I think this provides a release that’s really important for our society and it’s important for our communities that experiences like these are available to them.”
“We were just like everybody else across the country, trying to figure it out day by day,” City National Grove of Anaheim’s general manager Jordan Harding said. “We were figuring out how to survive and keep our employees active during this time. We put our heads together with the Nederlander team to figure out every aspect of this and how to make it as contactless and safe as possible.”
Woodbury worked closely with the OC Fair and was advised by Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, about the best practices for safe events during the pandemic. Two of the most basic instructions were to keep patrons within their vehicles and if they needed to exit for any reason, masks were mandatory.
Woodbury said that these mandates occasionally created situations with patrons, but security was on hand to ensure basic safety rules were followed.
“Some people don’t want to adhere to just simple sacrifices and that was tough,” he said. “It was really frustrating for me on a personal level. I’m not about to take anyone’s rights away, but I am just trying to produce shows that serve the community.”
Woodbury said he would not have been able to pull off the events without sponsorship from automaker Subaru.
“That is what enabled all of this to happen,” he said. “They were financially involved in a lot of these drive-in concert venues and they were so community-minded and they pushed to get something out there for people to do.”
“We’re going to continue to do Insomniac TV and I’d consider doing more drive-in shows, for sure,” Rotella said. “The profit margins on those are difficult because the events are very small, but we’ve been asked to continue drive-in beyond COVID, so we’ll explore that. If that’s what people want, we’ll do it because we always try to come through for everybody.”
The CBF team designed its stage high off the ground and in the shape of a cube with giant screens on each side. It was then situated in the middle of the parking lot where they were able to safely distance up to 700 vehicles in each direction.
“When we first put the stage up and had all the cars in one direction in front of the stage, I brought the staff out when we were two weeks from opening and I had them all pull their vehicles around and park. And one of our members had a smaller vehicle and she couldn’t see anything, nothing at all on stage,” he said.
“I absolutely lost it. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is going to crash and burn! What do we do?’ So after we had thrown in the towel on that day, we came back the next day and brainstormed about putting the stage in the middle and the cars around it. The only problem was that was going to cost about 300% more, but we thought, we have nothing to lose at this point. So we did it and built upon that and it’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made … aside from marrying my wife.”
Oct. 16-17 and 23-24: Live Nation's Live From the Drive-In series returns in October with four shows. Jason Isabell and the 400 Unit headline Oct. 16, Blackberry Smoke the 17th, Indigo Girls the 23rd, and Yacht Rock Revue the 24th. All shows will be held at the Ameris Bank Ampitheatre in Alpharetta, Ga. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. local time Sept. 11 on Live Nation's website; each ticket permits a maximum of four people per
Rockers GWAR will play a live show at the Diamond Drive-In in Richmond, Va., while following social distancing guidelines. "Americans do everything in their cars, and now that will include watching the greatest rock and roll horror show on this or any other planet!" said Blothar the Berserker in a statement. "Truly, what is October without a global pandemic and the chance to watch GWAR from the comfort of
The Avett Brothers play their first live show in six months with a drive-in concert at North Carolina's Charlotte Motor Speedway. They'll be celebrating the release of their new album, The Third Gleam, which drops the day before. Ticket presale for the Avett Guild begins July 16, and public sale begins July 17. Visit
The show will feature special guests Gwen Stefani and Trace Atkins. "This is such a great way to enjoy music with your family and friends and stay safe. I’m excited we’re getting the chance to perform a concert for fans," Shelton said in the press release. "So fill up those popcorn tubs and get ready for some country music!" The drive-ins hosting the filmed concert will adhere to CDC safety guidelines and local mandates. Tickets are $114.99 per vehicle, maximum six people per car; they go on sale July 14 at noon
Andrew McMahon will be performing the Jack's Mannequin album Everything in Transit as well as music from his other projects at the City National Grove of Anaheim in California. Tickets are $350 per vehicle for the front row,