In previous years, avid Music Midtown goers countdown the days until they can walk through the gates of Piedmont Park, thrilled by the hot summer days and large crowds. However, being the first summer after a global pandemic, summer 2021 is leaving people feeling uneasy about the event.
The festival is set to take place on September 18th and 19th. A set line-up is yet to be confirmed, but speculations about attendance are already made on social media sites like Reddit and Twitter.
Many who have made attending the festival into an annual tradition are wary of participating in this September’s festivities. Although vaccines have become easily accessible, with stores having issues of being too overstocked with products, a large amount of the population is yet to be vaccinated.
Not only does this cause a higher threat to the health of the nation, but it affects those who have already become vaccinated and have been for some time.-case in point, Music Midtown 2021.
Over the past months of vaccine rollout, the transition from a pandemic lifestyle back into a maskless society has been uncomfortable to many. This includes gathering in public, ceasing mask usage, and attending events like concerts and festivals.
Alex Schriber is a senior at Georgia State who has attended the last five Music Midtown festivals. He describes the event as a can’t miss opportunity, suspecting a large turnout due to a large amount of downtime for many over the past year and a half.
“The experience of seeing so many different artists in the heart of Atlanta for such a low price is incomparable”, he said.”It’s not too clear at the moment how they’re handling regulations for this year, but I’m sure they’re taking precautions.”
Although the lineup for the event is still not announced, troubles of booking talent are starting to be made clear.
On the top of their site, Music Midtown’s team has announced that the band My Chemical Romance will no longer be in attendance for this year’s festival.
The site also provided options to refund a ticket or roll over a ticket for access into next year’s festival.
Even with this being the case, sites are still selling tickets and putting out updates and predictions on setlists and who might be in attendance.
“I don’t know much about this year’s festival, and neither do a lot of other fans, but we are all ready to get back to life. So given the success of past year’s festivals, is hard for me to imagine Music Midtown 2021 as disappointing.”
Even with the fate of this year’s festival is still unknown, many remain hopeful of putting on their best attire, dousing themselves in glitter and attending the festival again.
