Marc Geiger Says Live Music Isn’t Likely To Return Before 2022

LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — While much of the live entertainment industry is banking on a big return for live events in early 2021, not everyone has such an optimistic outlook.

The confirmed skeptics now include Marc Geiger, a co-founder of the Lollapalooza festival who recently stepped away from his longtime position as WME’s global head of music.

Geiger shared his views in an interview on Bob Lefsetz’ podcast on Thursday, stating that in his view, late 2021 and more likely 2022 was a much more likely scenario for the live sector.

“In my humble opinion, it’s going to be 2022. It’s going to take that long before, what I call, the germaphobic economy is slowly killed off and replaced by the claustrophobia economy — that’s when people want to get out and go out to dinner and have their lives, go to festivals and shows,” Geiger told Lefsetz.

“It’s my instinct that it’s going to take a while because super-spreader events — sports, shows, festivals, etc. — aren’t going to do too well when the virus is this present,” he added. “With [COVID-19], there’s infinite liability. The next six months may be more painful than the last six months, and maybe the next six months after that are even more so.”

Check out the full podcast here.