Fear Of COVID But Love For Concerts: What Do I Do?

It’s been about…4 years since I’ve gone to a concert. I’m pretty sure my last concert was Melanie Martinez, and it was amazing. I love the concert experience - being there live with your favorite artist singing and dancing along is something everyone should do at least once in their lives. I truly do miss concerts.

But…pandemic.

One of my favorite bands is Panic! At The Disco - I’ve seen them live twice. They’re coming to New York City in September and I’ve already bought tickets for myself and the bestie. Concert experience solidified.

But…pandemic.

The only time I’ve done something public or involving a large amount of people during the pandemic was take a weekend trip to New Jersey. We weren’t even really around crowds - it was a group of five friends (including myself) in a beach house. We were able to see the beach from our balcony (yes, balcony…this trip was fancy as fuck to me). And the part of the beach we went to wasn’t even packed with people - it was a more private part and there weren’t many people there whenever we went. The only time we were around large groups of people was when we went to Cape May and walked around, shopped, and ate outside at a restaurant. I went somewhere, but kept away from the general public most of the time.

A concert is an entirely different experience though. This Panic! At The Disco show will be at Madison Square Garden. I have seats, not general admission. I know when I purchased my tickets there was a disclaimer on the Ticketmaster website saying we would have to follow their safety protocols as far as social distancing goes. Other than that, I don’t really know how they’re going to make things “safe”. Will we have to have proof of vaccination? Will we be given COVID tests when we get there? Even with that, we know rapid tests aren’t always accurate and there’s weirdos out there with counterfeit vaccination cards.

I’m really excited to finally see one of my favorite bands again. But I’m also scared as fuck about getting COVID. I’ve been wearing my mask nonstop these past 2 years. I’m not one of those people going out and acting like COVID just disappeared. But the idea of wearing a mask during a 2+ hour show where I know I’ll be singing, dancing, and breathing hard is off-putting to me. Is this me being hypocritical? Am I just following the herd at this point? Have I thrown my ideals out the window just to see a band play? I do not know.

But I’m going to see Panic! At The Disco in September.