Good Morning Everyone!
I’m composing this in my home office while it’s snowing outside. Not cool for mid-April but I’m confident that Our first show on April 30 with TIM THERIAULT is gonna be nice and warm because that’s how we roll! If you don’t know who Tim is, check out the info about him on our ticketing & calendar page.
Big COVID-Related News in New Hampshire
This could be the most important email I write about COVID since venues closed last March, so please read all of this.
Last Wednesday, the Governor made two announcements. The first was his lifting of the mask mandate, which was allowed to expire on April 16. The second announcement was to let everyone know that the state's other pandemic-related safety measures (Safer at Home guidelines) will be lifted on May 7. These guidelines provide COVID-related rules that businesses are required to follow (distancing, cleaning guidelines, capacity, masks, etc).
So, you are now probably wondering “is Tupelo Music Hall opening at full capacity indoors any time soon now that the restrictions are lifted, and are they going to abandon the COVID guidelines?” Funny you should ask that because I was just about to tell you how this will affect us! The answer isn’t a short one, so maybe you should go get another cup of coffee and then settle in.
First, the reality of what a state decides and what this industry is in the middle of…whether there is a lifting of restrictions or not, all of our tours through the beginning of August have been rescheduled or cancelled so you won’t see those coming back this summer. We are 100% committed to our outdoor drive-in series through the first week of August. We are also committed to following the same guidelines that we had last year so there won’t be any changes in the parking lot rules during our shows.
When it comes to mask mandates and restrictions on businesses, everybody has a different understanding and opinion of what lifting restrictions will do. Let’s remove the politics, safety concerns, and other noise for a minute and talk about how removing restrictions will affect venues and their patrons. Because we have been mandated to operate at lower capacities, venues had the right to reschedule shows based on the fact that we couldn’t operate at the stated capacity in our contracts. The lifting of restrictions puts us in a bit of a pickle because we will now be forced to honor our contracts with artists if they decide to tour, regardless of when the tour is. I’m currently working as fast as I can to find out how many of our tours are definitely going to keep their dates this year. My guess is that half or more of the bands booked for indoor shows through September will decide to keep their dates. Personally, I feel good about having shows indoors beginning in October and I don’t suspect many of those shows will be affected. August and September, however, are up for grabs.
There will come a time soon when we will know when we will have to open the indoor venue. As soon as we know that, we will start working on what the indoor guidelines will be so we can operate safely for our patrons and staff. Keep in mind that, if we purchased a show at our 700 seat capacity, we will be forced to keep all 700 seats on sale. With state restrictions lifted, if an artist mandates we have a show, we will not be able to offer refunds to patrons who have tickets to that show. this lifting of restrictions affects all of us.
So…after such a long-winded explanation and knowing that we have fantastic patrons coming from all four corners of New England to attend shows, I would like to ask everyone to PLEASE GET VACCINATED. We can’t necessarily control the virus but we can control whether we get vaccinated or not. A room full of vaccinated people is a lot safer than a room full of half-vaccinated people. We are probably going to open the indoor venue at the end of the summer, folks, so let’s make it a successful transition.
Stay safe. Be kind. We are all in this together.
Scott
