Entertainment company Live Nation announced a series of live drive-in concerts across the UK featuring music performances and comedy shows, and that got us thinking–could drive-in concerts be the future of live entertainment?

The general idea is similar to American drive-in cinemas which are surging back into popularity as countries ease back into large group gatherings during the pandemic, but how will concerts work? Let’s take a look at Live Nation’s acid trip of an explanation video.

These drive-in shows will take place in open-air locations, so it’ll be great as long as it doesn’t rain. Capping at 300 cars per show, each car can have a maximum of seven people, and each attendee requires a ticket. That’s a modest 2,100 head audience at max capacity.

If somehow by magic you’ve hustled one of these rare tickets and successfully made it through city traffic–you’ll simply have to park in your designated space. If you’re short-sighted, you can pay for the premium ticket which guarantees a spot in the first three rows, which leads us onto the next topic.

For the folks who have physically attended a concert, you’ll fondly remember the rascals who sneak into other people’s seating areas, so we’ve got our popcorn waiting for the brawls when people park in the wrong “private individual viewing zone”. Will people truly stick to their spots and also respect social distancing? Only time will tell, but honestly, we hope people don’t ruin it as it’s a pretty nice idea when it’s  organizing such gatherings is challenging in this environment.

Assuming all shows go ahead, we’re keeping an eye on the English indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs’ show in August as we’re curious about how drive-in concerts will pan out for rock metal concerts. Is it possible to sensibly social-distance-mosh in your own square? At the moment, distancing is set at a 1-meter distance so we’ll not entirely sure yet. Please leave your good ideas in the comments below. Preferably with stick drawings so we can visualize it.

Mads Langer Drive In Concert

Across the pond in Denmark last month, artist Mads Langer performed the world’s first drive-in concert. In an interview with triple j he says “At first, it felt extremely awkward…I realized on-stage that I was performing to four people times 500, rather than 2,000 people.” We loved that instead of the usual screams or clapping, fans blew their car horns and used their windscreen wipers.

For folks in the UK who are genuinely interested in trying this drive-in show experience, Utilita Live From The Drive-In tickets has been available since Monday, June 22 on Live Nation’s website. The line up made up of western acts including Dizzee Rascal, Gary Numan, Kaiser Chiefs, and more will be performing at 12 different venues across the country so check out their FAQ for all the information.

For us, it’ll be an interesting one-off experience due to the novelty, but the question is for the reader–would you pay money to go to a drive-in performance? What do you think it will be like? Let us know in the comments below.

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