Tune in on your FM radio, and listen from the safety and comfort of your car.

For many people, there’s nothing more rejuvenating than attending a live concert where your favorite artists dole out sound after sound of revitalizing music. These things are an essential part of existence for many people, and having them taken away is straight-up one of the worst hardships we are facing in the crisis.

Due to the recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus, governments have been prompted by health authorities to place bans of gathering large crowds to control the spread of the disease [1]. This means that people can’t attend events or be at locations where there would potentially be a large number of people in attendance, and this includes our enlivening musical concerts.  The virus is droplet-transmitted, a mechanism easily aggravated when people cough, sneeze, yawn, or even talk within breathing spaces of each other. Social distancing and lockdown protocols are being enforced or advised in many places, and according to health experts, large scale gatherings may have to be held off until the fall of 2021.

However, people are creatively coming up with safer measures to keep the world going, and drive-in music concerts are becoming a real thing now [2]. Aarhus, the second-largest city in Demark held its first drive-in concert on Friday, April 24, amid a relaxed nation-wide lockdown. People could pull up into an expansive open field, sit in the safety of their cars and tune in on their FM radios to listen to artistes playing on a stage upfront. Ingenious!

The Danish government announced its first lockdown measures on March 11, before any coronavirus-related death was recorded in the country [3]. Schools closed on March 16, and while the update charts show that the cases are still increasing in the country, the government has begun relaxing the lockdown protocols [4]. This came after the country progressively recorded a 16% slump in economic productivity due to the lockdown [5]. While schools and a few other select businesses are reopening, large gatherings are still banned.

Read: Nursing Home Lets You ‘Virtually Adopt’ a Lonely Grandparent in Isolation to Keep Them Company over Video Calls

Adapting to a new (hopefully temporary) world order

The Aarhus City government signed off on the drive-in concert which was organized by popular singer-songwriter Mads Langer.  According to reports from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the attendees were respectful of the social distancing rules and everyone sat in their cars for the entire show. No matter how pumped or energized the crowd got, they sat tight in their cars and had a great time.

According to Forbes, minutes after the concert was announced a few days before it went down, over 500 tickets were sold to fans eager for some excitement in these scary times [6].

Addressing the massive crowd of vehicles lined neatly across the field, Langer said from the stage, “I’ve played many concerts in my life, but this is really a first.”

The concert was broadcast on live radio and fans could pop in at intervals to interact with him via the Zoom app.

Later, in an Instagram post inspired by the Forbes review of his concert, an excited Langer wrote: “I thought you had to be Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran to make it to @Forbes as an artist. Apparently, you can also get there by using your creative mind to adapt to a new reality in a time of crisis.”

“I’m trying to adapt to the new reality as a performing artist and hopefully spread a little sunshine in your cars,” he added.

If this trend hasn’t lit up in your location yet, a lot of our favorite artists are always online and live on social media these days to keep us entertained. 

It’s not just musical concerts going the drive-in route

Drive-in movie theaters have been a thing since before the pandemic, although regular theaters were obviously the preferred choice. They’ve often sold the idea of “car-comfort” as a great way to enjoy your movies without worrying about other people causing a nuisance in the cinema and getting in your personal space.

These days, they are no longer “an” option. They are the “only” option since movie theaters have been invariably banned from opening during this period. However, not every government is “comfortable” with the idea. For instance, in the United States, there are over 350 drive-in theaters scattered across the country, but only about 10% of them have remained opened, and of course, they are experiencing a huge surge in business [7]. People need the get-away more than ever right now, and if they are willing to adhere strictly to parking and distancing regulations, this would certainly be the best way to go for now.

However, if your state or country has banned both regular and drive-in theaters from operating, you can go the virtual way with your friends by using the Chrome extension for watching Netflix remotely, called Netflix Party. If you all have Netflix accounts and Chrome browsers, you can sign up and start watching movies at the same time from the comfort of your homes. The service also comes with a cool chatroom where you can share your thoughts about the movie as you watch.

Keep Reading: Iceland recommends hugging trees instead of people

The post Denmark Introduces ‘Drive-in Concerts’ During Coronavirus Pandemic appeared first on The Hearty Soul.