2020.03.10 - Blabbermouth - Guns N' Roses: Costa Rica Concert Canceled Over Coronavirus Concerns (& related articles)

Guns N' Roses: Costa Rica Concert Canceled Over Coronavirus Concerns

According to Diario Extra, Guns N' Roses' March 18 concert at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Ayma in San Jose, Costa Rica is among the "massive events and activities" that have been canceled amid concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.

On Monday, Costa Rican president Carlos Alvarado said at a press conference that mass gathering events in the country are being suspended for at least two weeks and until further notice. These include concerts, topes (horse parades) and regional festivals.

Costa Rica has confirmed nine cases of coronavirus. Thirty-four people are suspected of having coronavirus, according to the Health Ministry’s latest figures, released Sunday night.

More than 100,000 people worldwide have contracted the coronavirus and over 3,000 people have died — the majority in China.

According to the Centers For Disease Control And Protection (CDC),coronavirus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person — between people who are in close contact with one another (within about six feet),and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

The agency is recommending that people avoid "close contact" with anyone showing flu-like symptoms.

As the disease officially called COVID-19 continues to spread, concert organizers have been canceling or postponing events across the globe.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the death rate associated with COVID-19 is between one and two percent, which is higher than the average death rate associated with seasonal flu strains, at around 0.1 percent.

https://blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-costa-rica-concert-canceled-over-coronavirus-concerns

On March 12, 2020, two of the Lollapallooza festivals in Latin America were suspended; Billboard:

*
Argentina, Chile Suspend Lollapallooza Due to the Coronavirus

Promoters in Argentina and Chile have postponed the Lollapalooza festival set for both countries later this month, citing concerns over the coronavirus.

BUENOS AIRES — Promoters in Argentina and Chile have postponed the Lollapalooza festival set for both countries later this month, citing concerns over the coronavirus.

Promoters said the events would be rescheduled for the second half of 2020. The fate of Lollapalooza Brazil, which is set for April 3-5 in São Paulo, has not yet been announced.

“For reasons of public knowledge related to coronavirus, I inform you that Lollapalooza will not be held in San Isidro on the scheduled dates: March 27, 28 and 29,” Gustavo Posse, the mayor of San Isidro, a suburb of Buenos Aires where the event was set to take place, said Thursday. “The festival will be rescheduled,” Posse said in a message on Twitter.

Also Thursday, Lollapalooza Chile said in a tweet: “Facing this unprecedented situation, our highest priority is to maintain the health and safety of the public, artists and our teams and abide the preventative methods of public and health authorities.”

The lineup for both editions included Guns N’ Roses, Travis Tritt, The Strokes, Lana Del Rey, Martin Garrix and Gwen Stefani, among others.

The postponements come as promoters in Argentina have suspended live musical concerts in and around Buenos Aires for the foreseeable future in the latest effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19.

And they also come as Chilean promoters have been confronting a spate of street protests since October from marchers pushing for constitutional reform to address what they perceive as widespread inequality in the Chilean economy.

The Argentine economy is in its third year of recession with inflation running at more than 50%, among the highest levels in the world. The federal government is struggling to keep on top of the more than $100 billion in public debt, making tourism an important source of dollars for the economy. The suspension of music events, which are highly popular in Argentina, could push the economy deeper into recession.

The decision to call off Lollapalooza came after Argentine President Alberto Fernández suggested on Wednesday that all large-scale gatherings in the near term would be canceled or suspended to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected 21 people and led to one death in the country. The measures include a requirement that all people flying in from countries with large outbreaks, including China, Europe and the U.S., must go into quarantine for 14 days. The government has also suspended the awarding of visas for travelers from coronavirus-hit countries.

“Whoever breaks the quarantine will be denounced for committing a crime against public health,” the president said Wednesday in an interview with the local cable news network C5N. “We have to take extreme measures.”

On Thursday, Fernández called on people to be responsible, saying that suspending large-scale gatherings is the right thing to do to keep the virus under control in Argentina. “It is an issue that, if we treat it seriously, we can control it,” he said on Radio Mitre.

On Thursday, the city of Buenos Aires, a hotspot for concerts and festivals, suspended all events. “We are going to ban concerts, events with a large concentration of public,” Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta said in a news conference. Axel Kicillof, the governor of Buenos Aires province, is poised to follow suit by signing a decree to suspend events including Lollapalooza, Argentine state news wire Telam reported, citing unnamed people within the provincial government.

With the suspension, Maroon 5, which performed in nearby Montevideo, Uruguay, on Tuesday, won’t be able to play a scheduled concert in Buenos Aires on Thursday.

Other upcoming shows that are suspended include Lindsey Stirling on March 23 and Metallica on April 18. Colombian reggaeton singer Karol G and Argentine rapper Cazzu had been due to play this Friday and Saturday.

Argentine pop artist Tini Stoessel also had a show scheduled later this month, but she and her band will go into quarantine after arriving home from a European tour, according to a tweet by Movistar Arena, where she was to play in Buenos Aires.

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/lollapalooza-argentina-chile-postponed-coronavirus-9333638/

Also on March 12, 2020, Billboard reported that Live Nation was planning to pause all their promoted tours:

*
Live Nation Planning to Pause Arena Tours Due to Coronavirus

Recognizing national concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, Live Nation is instructing its touring shows to prepare to return home, Billboard has learned. The announcement affects all Live Nation tours domestically and some shows internationally.

Earlier Thursday (March 12) the company told employees it is recognizing large gatherings around the world are being canceled and the company will be postponing current touring arena shows through the end of the month. Some select shows will play out over the next few days, but the remainder of the concerts will be postponed. [...]

On a call, company executive told employees that March is generally a slow month and that Live Nation will re-evaluate the situation at the beginning of April with the goal of resuming touring in May or June. [...]

https://www.billboard.com/pro/live-nation-global-pause-tours-concerts-coronavirus/

On March 14, new dates for Lollapallooza and Estereo Picnic festivals were announced:

And on March 16, GN'R announced rescheduled and new tour dates in Latin America for November 2020; Blabbermouth:

*
Guns N' Roses Announce Rescheduled Central/South American Tour Dates

Guns N' Roses have announced the rescheduled dates for their recently postponed Central and South American tour. The trek, which was originally slated to take place in March and April, was called off due to the coronavirus pandemic which has brought the worldwide concert industry to a near-complete standstill. The new shows will take place in November and December, with all original tickets honored for the rescheduled dates.

Guns N' Roses tweeted out a link to the tour page on the band's official web site and included the following message: "GNR fam, we're announcing new rescheduled #GNR2020 tour dates. Hold onto your tickets, see you soon"

Rescheduled tour dates:

Nov. 08 - Punta Cana, Dominican Republic - Hard Rock Hotel And Casino
Nov. 15 - San Jose, Costa Rica - Estadio Ricardo Saprissa
Nov. 18 - Guatemala City, Guatemala - Estadio Cementos Progreso
Nov. 21 - Quito, Ecuador - Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa
Nov. 24 - Lima, Peru - Estadio Universidad San Marcos
Nov. 27 - Santiago, Chile - Lollaplaooza
Dec. 04 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Lollapalooza
Dec. 06 - Bogota, Colombia - Estereo Picnic



https://blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-announce-rescheduled-south-american-tour-dates

Of course those rescheduled dates would also be cancelled eventually.