Would Boise Pay For Tickets to a Socially Distant Concert?

My iPhone calendar broke my heart this morning. It reminded me that I'm supposed to be on vacation today. I'm supposed to be getting on a plane to Denver this afternoon. I'm supposed to see my favorite band at the most beautiful venue in the country tomorrow night. 

Of course, I'm not doing any of that and it hurts. By now, we can all agree that some days on this Corona Coaster are tougher than others. On days that seem particularly hard or particularly lonely I've turned to their music to get me through.

"Well, in the end my friend, we will all be together again. Clutching onto my hand. In a valley we'll stand, just living again."

I so badly want to hear those words sung live. I so badly want to scream them back at the stage as some sort of desperately needed catharsis after being told to "stay home, stay safe."

While I don't think flipping the calendar to January 2021 is going to magically bring back concerts as we know them, I'm starting to feel hopeful that I will get to see O.A.R. next year...just in a little bit different of a setting. Somewhere that might look a little bit like this:

England just opened their first socially-distant concert and I'm very into the set-up. According Gossi.ie, the venue normally holds 45,000 people but capacity for this first of its kind event was limited to 2,500. Crews set up 500 metal platforms, placed six feet apart from each other to observe social distancing recommendations.

Up to five tickets per platform were available so you could enjoy the show with a group of your close friends. (There was also a one time fee to reserve the platform, which you could split up among the number of people you actually had sitting on it.) Concessions, like alcohol and food, could be pre-purchased online and picked up when you got to the venue. The venue provided mini-fridges and chairs for concert goers so they would be comfortable in their area.

When you purchase your tickets, you're assigned an arrival time to avoid over crowding at the gates. Hand Sanitizer stations were available throughout the venue, including at the gates.

From all of the pictures and videos that I've seen on Twitter, people really seemed to enjoy the experience!

Do you think something like this work at our outdoor venues like the Idaho Botanical Gardens' Outlaw Field or Ford Idaho Amphitheater once Idaho's COVID-19 numbers trend down a little lower? Would you be interested in experiencing live music like this until we can get back to normal?

Honestly, I'm a point in my life where I don't need to be right up front and squished cheek-to-cheek with other fans to enjoy a concert. That's why I more often than not, purchase the Sky Box seats when my favorite artists come to the Knitting Factory. Those seats offer a similar experience to this show in the UK. I'd totally be willing to buy a ticket to experience a concert like this!