I don't do many big events anyway even before COVID...

But I have one I do not want to miss, my very good friend is coming along as she and I saw him the first time in town some years ago..The last concert was of kids, parents, grandparents and everyone sang along with him...it was wonderful. This time the venue is a bit smaller.

We are to see Jorge Drexler in Boston in November.

What about you? Have you ventured out to venues with lots of folks in close quarters?

I went to a concert in midtown Manhattan a week ago. A relatively new space called the DiMenna Center for Classical Music.

Packed audience. Everyone masked. They were strict; you had to show ID and vaccination card.

It was a concert of new music. The Times wrote that audiences are still below par for classical repertoire, but new-music concerts are back at capacity!

Well, no.

And, frankly, I won't.

We went to the Stratford Festival last week to see a show. The house is always full. They didn’t require masking or vaccination but our vaccination rates here are very high and they said masking was “strongly recommended”. They handed out free masks at the door to anyone who wanted one. I would say 90% of the audience was masked. I felt very comfortable and just over a week later we both seem to be fine.

ETA: last year the Stratford Festival had a vaccination policy, and it tends to be something people do annually, so I expect vaccination rates among attendees are higher than the provincial average

Just got back from Nashville. Big fun! Live performances were everywhere.

One of the best vacations we’ve ever taken!

Let me stipulate that I believe that each of has a right to make these decisions for oneself. I don't believe that we would have anything approaching a free society without adhering to this principle.

For myself, it's the vaccines' efficacy and durability, or lack thereof, that makes the percentage of people vaccinated in my county of little concern to me.

Also, I haven't participated in these types of events since I was in my '30's and I'll be 55 on Wednesday. So it's not like I'm missing something I'd be doing anyway


I understand that live theater and musical performance are irreplaceable, an entirely different experience to listening to good recorded plays and musical performances, because the audience becomes an integral part of the live performance.

This isn't NYC. Frankly, I don't think I'm missing much.

To those of you are who are attending live performances, be safe and have fun.