Member-only story
Pandemic and Panacea: 19 Lessons To Learn From Covid
Let’s dive in:
- Live is not a Disney movie.
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
When You Wish Upon A Star — Leigh Harline & Ned Washington
Disney movie lyrics are purpose built to move the story along to the inevitable happy ending. Life, not so much. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to bear witness to a raging fire in a circus tent being responded to by a tiny clown car then you’re halfway to understanding just how fucked the live entertainment industry is now.
Here’s the truth: there will be no live mass events this year. There will be a very slow start next year if we have a vaccine which is proven. Maybe, if the stars upon which you wish align, we will see theaters and arenas open for events in the late spring or summer.
You don’t have to believe me. Most of the time, I don’t believe me. But, believe Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles or Dr. Zeke Emmanuel:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/magazine/coronavirus-economy-debate.html
2. Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation understands and is setting the agenda
What do you do when you sell 550 million tickets a year, operate 240 live event venues, mount and promote tours globally and you get almost no notice that a virus circulating the globe is so dangerous that we’re closing the world?
How much courage does it take to press the stop button when information is coming in fast, unconfirmed and the subject of much debate? You have to balance your duties to your clients, your shareholders, your employees and the public which trusts that it’s safe to enter your buildings or those which you ticket on behalf of their ownership.
In the old days, when Drexel Burnham ruled the world of takeover financing, and a deal could be made based upon not much more than a simple one page “highly confident” letter, companies were upended for…
