'Ontario is closed for business': Concert, theatre organizers face new COVID-19 hurdles

Upcoming live shows headlined by Billie Eilish and Elton John are hanging within the steadiness as Ontario's plan to ease COVID-19 restrictions palms a harder algorithm to dwell exhibits than different leisure occasions.

Advocates for the province's dwell music and theatre industries say they're being handled unfairly as new guidelines go into impact on Jan. 31 that maintain their venues at 50-per cent capability till at the very least mid-March.

In the meantime, different leisure venues together with cinemas, casinos and eating places have been informed to anticipate the flexibility to host a full home by Feb. 21.

Erin Benjamin, head of the Canadian Stay Music Affiliation, says it is the most recent setback for dwell venues and their house owners who're as soon as once more confused by insurance policies that deem it fit for human consumption maskless in a restaurant however unsafe to assemble masked for a live performance.

She worries the ever-changing guidelines might squelch a raft of upcoming live shows, from big-ticket exhibits led by worldwide superstars to smaller membership occasions by U.S. artists, all of them who could resolve it isn't price the price of getting into Canada to play a half-full area.

Eilish is slated to play Toronto's Scotiabank Enviornment on Feb. 16 whereas John has two dates on March 12 and 13. The entire exhibits are on the calendar earlier than full capability is permitted on March 14.

Neither artist had postponed nor cancelled their exhibits as of Tuesday morning.

Benjamin says the province's continuously altering guidelines appear to have no clear science behind them and she or he fears it sends the message that "Ontario is closed for enterprise."

"The concept of doing enterprise in Ontario is so unsure that people are simply not thinking about continuously attempting to navigate the principles," she says.

"We're listening to issues like outright cancellations and conversations (on future tour dates) being paused till 2023 in some instances."

Some large names have already moved upcoming Canadian tour dates away from the primary half of the yr, together with Dua Lipa who was slated to play Montreal and Toronto in February. These dates have been rescheduled to July 25 and 27.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Jan. 25, 2022.