(WSYM) — In the coming weeks, venues like Little Caesars Arena will be filled with thousands of people for shows and concerts. As delta variant cases rise, it’s causing some concern for concertgoers who already have their tickets. Others say “let the show begin” because it’s been way too long.
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“I’m excited. I want to see them,” said Daren Ferden, who plans to go to The Rolling Stones concert at Ford Field this November. “You know the band has been around forever, so I got to make the most of the opportunity and see them live,” he said.
Seeing your favorite bands and musicians live is something people haven't been able to do in over a year.
"We are lined up to go see Keith Urban at Soaring Eagle," said Dan Cipponeri.
Linda Guzman will be at the Fox Theatre to see the Long Island Medium.
“It’s nice to have normalcy again. It feels really good not having to be restricted as much,” said Guzman.
There are many events coming up in the metro Detroit area, indoor and outdoor.
Next week Dave Chappelle will be at the Fillmore for a days-long comedy show. They are requiring a COVID-19 test before entering.
They aren’t alone, smaller venues like Small’s Bar in Hamtramck are putting protocols in place.
"You’re going to have to show a vaccination card or a negative test within 48 hours to get in," said Small's owner Mike Mouyianas.
He says he’s not risking it.
"With the delta variant hitting and spreading fast again, we don’t want to go through this again,” he said.
He’s not the only bar and concert-style venue doing this, the Magic Bag in Ferndale posted a similar message on their Facebook page saying, “thank you for being so understanding during this strange time”.
Not everyone is happy with these decisions, some bands who were scheduled to perform at Small’s are pulling out.
"Most of it was through the Hamtramck Music Fest, which is this week, and we basically lost our Saturday show because of it.”
Other events lined up are monitoring the situation before implementing requirements for attendees.
"Everything will be a recommendation unless we have to mandate it. I think it's people's personal choice. And we have to move forward because there is a vaccine out there,” said Jon Witz, producer for Arts, Beats & Eats.
Over Labor Day, Arts, Beats & Eats will welcome over 300,000 people to downtown Royal Oak for arts, food, and national acts.
"We start the weekend with Thornetta Davis, Detroit's queen, and we close with Bobby Brown and in middle, Stone Temple Pilots.”
In the event where a show gets postponed or canceled, the organizers will be in touch.
On the Live Nation website, it says, ”if an event is canceled, no action is required to obtain a refund; we will issue a refund to the original method of payment used at time of purchase, once funds are received from the event organizer."
And for rescheduled events, tickets are still valid for the new date.
If you purchase a ticket on StubHub and the event is canceled, they say “we’ll give you a StubHub credit for 120% of the amount you paid. The 120% credits are set to expire on December 31, 2022.”
And if the event is rescheduled, you are good or you can re-list your tickets for free.
Concertgoers say they hope it doesn’t get to this point.
"It’s been canceled and postponed like 2-3 times already so fingers crossed nothing's been said about the September 15th show," said Guzman.
