These artists are making concerts safer with COVID-19 precautions

While most of the music industry has “moved on,” COVID-conscious performers have been working to prevent their shows from being superspreaders.

“I quickly realized that it would be complicated to have a music career while being COVID conscious,” said phytocene. The 26-year-old ambient pop artist, also known for sharing her masked classical piano performances on social media, is among a visible group of COVID-conscious musicians.

Despite the ongoing pandemic of a deadly and disabling airborne virus, the live music industry reemerged from widespread cancellations in 2021, as “back to normal” messaging was pushed around the world. Concerts returned, and without any precautions, some stadium shows became superspreaders.  

However, numerous musicians are pushing back against this trend by centering COVID-19 precautions for their shows, some masking onstage while performing. On a recent tour, the electronic duo Purity Ring played in respirators and collaborated with fan volunteers to distribute masks to their audiences, while platforming mutual aid groups at their shows. Car Seat Headrest frontman Will Toledo also masks during shows and has been outspoken about his experience with Long COVID.

“[In] music spaces, the denial is huge,” phytocene said. “Because I think if musicians were to admit that every day they put themselves at risk, they wouldn’t be able to do that career.”

Of course, incorporating COVID-19 awareness into an established career is still a challenge when the music industry, like so many others, has resumed “business as usual.”

Greg Saunier, drummer of the indie rock group Deerhoof, noted his band’s extensive history has helped longtime listeners get on board with safety measures. As veteran performers, they have resumed a more typical, globe-trotting touring schedule while asking audiences to wear masks.

“The privilege in our case is that our fans have tended to be rather kind to us and to each other, and accommodating to our masking requests overall,” Saunier said. “Other artists who’ve tried to do the same thing have run into more difficulties, or have found that a smaller percentage of the audience on any given day will respect their request, making it more likely that the artist becomes ill.”

Active for over 30 years, Deerhoof has witnessed changing attitudes about public health responsibility before, such as the gradual banning of smoking inside venues. The indoor pollution prominent in the 1990s also posed a risk for artists.

“Whether it’s cigarette smoke or whether it’s COVID,” musicians have to breathe deeply while they perform, making them “much more likely to breathe in something that’s going to endanger their health,” Saunier said.

“Whether it’s cigarette smoke or whether it’s COVID,” musicians have to breathe deeply while they perform, making them “much more likely to breathe in something that’s going to endanger their health.”

Greg Saunier, deerhoof

Music venues may resist mask requirements, but there are other options

Zeo Boekbinder returned to the road in 2021, when crowds and fellow performers were more scrupulous about masking. That changed by 2022, and the singer-songwriter wrapped up a string of U.S. dates with a positive COVID-19 test. Boekbinder also clashed with their record label over COVID-19 safety measures and ultimately found a new home for their next album.

“I kind of just felt like everybody hated me for having asked” for the touring party to mask off-stage and take rapid tests daily, they said.

Following that experience, Boekbinder did not play music at all for two years, after more than a decade of consistently working. They have now abandoned traditional venues and instead made shorter runs of backyard shows, where audiences are masked and outdoors for protection.

“You can set the tone easier when it’s someone’s home,” Boekbinder said. “People don’t feel as entitled to the space.”

phytocene wanted to play a show last summer to celebrate the release of her Primary Blue EP but was unable to find a venue that would require masks. Her solution was to rent out a club herself in order to set her own standards, and she teamed up with Mask Bloc Paris to facilitate respirator distribution and bring in air purifiers.

Many venue staff think audiences won’t come to a mask-required show, phytocene said. “They think people are not intelligent enough to understand the importance of protecting the artists. That’s a mistake, because people get it. Many people thanked me and sent me messages like, ‘Thank you, I’m chronically ill. That’s really nice to think of me.’”

Other artists had similar challenges finding venues to support masked shows. Camille Mai, singer and pianist for the jazz fusion group Rebirth Canal, recalled a lengthy process in finding a venue that would agree to their safety requests, even though the San Francisco Bay Area has been relatively supportive of the COVID-conscious community. They eventually developed a relationship with the Oakland space Wyldflowr Arts, where they have now performed multiple sold-out events.

“When I organized my first show … I had no idea how well it would do, but we actually sold out pretty fast!” Mai said in an email. “Some people came from 70 miles away to see us.”

When Michael Thomas and Marcel Rosa-Salas launched their event production company, Positive Deviance, last year, their debut outing featured three hip-hop acts performing at a Bushwick photography studio. The Brooklyn-based duo had no prior experience working in live music, but it wasn’t apparent as they seemingly seamlessly pulled off a sold-out show with more hopeful attendees on a waitlist.

“We deserve to be able to go to a show at a nice place,” Rosa-Salas said of wanting to provide a service for the COVID-conscious community. “We deserve the ability to be able to eat and have drinks with friends and do so in a way that’s thoughtful of the current context we’re in.”

Positive Deviance has continued to put on events roughly once a month. Their precautions include a mask requirement, Pluslife-tested performers, far-UV technology, and air filtration. Citing Arundhati Roy’s description of the pandemic as a portal, Thomas emphasized the broader social impact of bringing people with shared values together beyond just enjoying a show.

“The goal, ultimately, is to work with as many people as possible who are aligned in terms of trying to end the pandemic,” he said. The very first act to take the stage at the launch event was rapper Drew Empire, who met his DJ, Sammy, on the COVID-conscious community app Refresh.

We deserve to be able to go to a show at a nice place. We deserve the ability to be able to eat and have drinks with friends and do so in a way that’s thoughtful of the current context we’re in.

Marcel Rosa-Salas, Positive Deviance

Virtual shows are here to stay

Prioritizing accessibility goes beyond protecting IRL spaces. The Positive Deviance shows have featured high-quality livestreams so that anyone can support the music and mission from home. Though the innovative virtual experiences that many artists pivoted to in 2020 have largely diminished, Veeps, the streaming platform dedicated to music and stand-up comedy, still has plenty of upcoming events on its calendar. Concert films, both new and archival, have regularly arrived on screens.

In London, singing and piano instructor Merel van der Knoop has been leading online choir practices since 2022, when she began to experience Long COVID symptoms. She teamed up with the U.K. charity Long Covid Kids to start a virtual choir, inspired by a previously existing one for adults that she now also leads. 

The weekly practices have attracted participants from around the world, including the Netherlands and China. Van der Knoop starts each Zoom meeting with a community check-in chat, followed by “a moment of mindfulness” and breathing exercises before sharing songs for the group to learn. (Naturally, a KPop Demon Hunters track was recently on the docket.)

Van der Knoop aims to help participants reconnect “to their own body and their own breath,” she said. With Long COVID, “your whole body is being turned upside down, including the breath.”

Beyond the fatigue and respiratory complications commonly associated with Long COVID, symptoms can include tinnitus and hearing loss. In 2024, Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields shared that he had not fully recovered four years after first being infected, and that he was still experiencing neurological issues that left the notoriously prolific musician unable to finish writing any new songs.

“I’m so grateful to be able to provide this,” van der Knoop said of the online community she’s developed. She would like to see all the choir participants find relief from their symptoms, but also wants to continue the group and “keep on providing the safe space that people need to have.”

The COVID-conscious music scene centers community

Taking COVID-19 precautions has brought performers and audiences together beyond a shared love of music, centering community care and shared values.

“There’s constant pressure to grow [a career] or make more money or be more successful,” Boekbinder said. “And I’m like, ‘No, I’ll just stay right here and just be in community, caring about each other,’ and I’m totally happy just where I am right now.”

At the two Positive Deviance events attended by The Sick Times, concertgoers were relieved to have a night out where their safety was a priority. The atmosphere was warm and unburdened from the stress of being a rare masker. Artists including Ivy Sole and Saint Wilson expressed gratitude for being able to play in an environment that takes their health seriously — a sentiment echoed by phytocene, Boekbinder, and Mai.

“I noticed that at all of these shows there’s a huge atmosphere of joy and intimacy, you can even hear it in the tone of the crowd between sets,” Mai said.

They added: “I think ultimately we’re a subculture, but instead of being centered around a style of clothing or music, we’re centered on anti-ableism, and it makes our commitment more powerful.”

I think ultimately we’re a subculture, but instead of being centered around a style of clothing or music, we’re centered on anti-ableism, and it makes our commitment more powerful

Camille Mai, Rebirth Canal

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Katie Chow is a New York City–based entertainment writer. Her work has appeared in publications including The A.V. Club, Men’s Health, Pitchfork, Paste, and Vice.

Editor’s note, February 17, 4 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to correct Camille Mai’s pronouns.

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