Following a 2-Year Hiatus…

Coachella is back – and as big as ever.

More than 100,000 people converged in the California desert each day this past weekend to see performances from Doja Cat, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Swedish House Mafia x The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, and more. For context, 2019’s festival saw around 100,000 attendees each day.

📸 Big picture: With the first weekend of Coachella putting up pre-pandemic numbers, more than 160,000 people attending the sold-out Ultra Festival in Miami earlier this year, and 2022 expected to eclipse 2019 as a record year for the live music industry, the fun stuff seems to be back – international business events, not so much.

• This year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas saw a ~70% drop in attendance; SXSW 2022 reported a 20% decline.

👀 Looking ahead… Covid cases are rising, a cause of concern for many, but hospitalizations and deaths remain at their lowest levels since last summer. 

• With the majority of Americans vaccinated and effective therapeutics available, few industry insiders expect something like a full-scale shutdown of touring to happen again.

+Public sentiment: Around half of all adults say they’d be comfortable attending a sporting event today, per a Morning Consult poll from earlier this month.