Country singer Chase Rice played his first in-person concert in months on Saturday night and seemed delighted to do so. “We’ll be back,” he wrote in an Instagram story with a smiling face sunglasses emoji, accompanied by a video of hundreds of people singing along with his recent hit, “Eyes On You.”
But on social media, many were horrified to see images of a crowded crowd, without masks and without social estrangement, especially when the concert took place in Tennessee, which is experiencing a significant increase in coronavirus infections. When the videos began to circulate on Twitter, other country singers took the unusual step of calling Rice by name.
“Imagine being selfish enough to risk the health of thousands of people, not to mention the potential domino effect, and playing a NORMAL concert in the country right now. @ChaseRiceMusic,” Kelsea Ballerini tweeted to her millions of followers. “We all want (and need) to tour. We only care about our fans and their families enough to wait.”
Mickey Guyton replied and included Rice’s identifier on Twitter: “An absolutely selfish act. What a shame.” Maren Morris replied to one of Guyton’s tweets and simply said, “No masks,” with emojis with her head exploding and her brow furrowed.
Bobby Bones, the format’s most powerful radio personality, tweeted the video and wrote: “Aside from the obvious … probably also a big responsibility here. I just spoke to two different attorneys about this.”
The concert took place at the historic Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, a former prison-turned-tourist destination that has a distillery, paranormal tours, and a concert series called “Live at Brushy,” located in Petros, Tennessee, 2 1/2 hours in Nashville car. . Brian May, vice president of the Brushy Mountain Group, said in a statement Sunday night that fewer than 1,000 people attended the Rice show, despite the venue’s maximum capacity being 10,000, so there was “ample room on the outdoor grass area for fans to extend to their own comfort level. ” The place met all local requirements and “numerous precautions were taken,” he said, including temperature checks for guests, free hand sanitizer, and masks and gloves for staff.
However, he added, in the wake of Rice’s concert, organizers are currently “re-evaluating the series from top to bottom,” including additional security measures, changing the concert settings to conduct or postponing the shows entirely. “We were unable to further enforce the recommended physical spacing on signage posted throughout the property and we are looking for future alternative scenarios that further protect attendees, artists and their teams and our employees,” said May. The next “Live at Brushy” show is Sawyer Brown on July 18, followed by Kip Moore on August 1.
Adrienne Brown, a Nashville resident who attended the show, said the experience was “wonderful”: In her opinion, the videos of Rice’s story on Instagram made the audience look fuller than it was in person. As crowds of people stood around the stage, she said, she and her friends stood at the back of the lawn.
Brown said she understands why some think it’s too early to hold a concert, but she was comfortable with the fact that it was an outdoor space, and fans had the option of social distance. “The people who chose to go to the front, that’s Kelsea [Ballerini] you need to talk to her, “he said.
Still, images of people standing so close together in the middle of a pandemic puzzled many observers. Chris Janson also posted Instagram videos of a large crowd at Gordy’s Hwy 30 Music Fest in Idaho on Saturday night, and deleted them after he started seeing criticism. He apparently blocked Morris on Twitter (“ummmmm, what did I do?” He tweeted, with three laughing emojis), as well as Whitney Pastorek, a Nashville manager who previously worked for the Janson management company and tweeted that the scene on Janson’s The concert was “reprehensible”.
“Our industry was a brilliant light on what happens when people put the welfare of society in their own pockets. We did well and we didn’t complain,” Pastorek wrote on Instagram, referring to the numerous Nashville acts that canceled tours. year. “But even if that meant he could get every lost dollar and every second of lost health insurance back, he wouldn’t work with an act that decided to jeopardize the health of his fans (and the families and communities of his fans) in the way that Chase Rice and Chris Janson did it last night. It’s horrible. “
Janson and Rice’s respective record labels did not respond to requests for comment. In March, Rice expressed frustration at the canceled tours with a Facebook post.
“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t cancel a damn show, but it isn’t. Today many tours and shows were canceled or moved. I’m not blaming any promoter or decision maker for this, they have to protect ourselves and the people’s well-being, so I understand all aspects of this agreement. Personally, I choose not to live in fear, especially of something I can’t really control, “he wrote. “THANKS to fans all over the world. This has made me realize that there is no music without you. If I have to break it down just for myself and a guitar in a truck bed and play with whoever appears, I will, I love everyone “.
