Concerts and music festivals may seem like somewhat of a distant memory. But in some parts of the world, live gigs are slowly making their comeback, Covid-19-style. In recent weeks, several live performances have taken place around the world, with various safe distancing measures in place. Suffice to say, these are concerts like you’ve never seen them before. In place of packed mosh pits are individual platforms. Rather than long queues for drinks, there are personal booths and butlers to serve you drinks. Could this give us a glimpse of what gigs could look like in Singapore in time to come in this new normal? Would you pay for a personal viewing platform to watch, say, JJ Lin? Or attend a drive-in Jay Chou concert, perhaps?

Keep scrolling for a look at socially-distanced concerts around the world:

What’s touted as the world’s first tuk tuk drive-in music festival took place on Aug 8 in Bangkok. About 200 tuk-tuks accommodated two to three passengers each at the seven-hour fest, featuring a slew of Thai acts, at the expansive Asiatique The Riverfront venue. Each vehicle was given a designated space, which was sufficient for parking and a perimeter around it for gig-goers to enjoy the show. Food and drinks were sold and served to concert attendees by butlers.

There were hand sanitisers and temperature-taking stands were among the precautionary measures in place at the concert venue in Bangkok.

Once upon a time, viewing platforms like these were reserved for VIPs at concerts. Not at this socially distanced gig in the UK. Brit indie rock singer Sam Fender played on Aug 11 to 2,500 people who were sat in raised viewing platforms in groups of up to five — there were 500 of these pods set up, each placed 2m apart. The gig was held at the Virgin Money Unity Arena in Newcastle, a horse-track that was converted into a concert venue. And it seemed that concert-goers adhered to social distancing measures and stayed within their perimeters during the gig and security officials would move people who decided to wander around, according to social media posts and concert reviews.

Sam Fender’s (above) two-night sold-out performances kicked off a series of socially distanced gigs — over 20 performers, including Ronan Keating and comedian Jimmy Carr, are due to perform from now until mid-September.

According to news reports, the gigs have a one-way system in place (presumably for entering and exiting the venue) and fans pre-ordered food and drinks to avoid queues. Attendees were also required to wear masks when they were not in their designated pods, and hand sanitisers were available at the venue.

Taiwanese singer-songwriter Eric Chou performed to a sold-out crowd of 33,000 fans on Aug 8 and 9 at the Taipei Arena. Organisers say that these are the first gigs held in the venue since Taiwan’s recovery from the pandemic. Gig-goers had to wear masks, and had access to hand sanitisers. Temperature checks were also carried out, and anyone with a temperature of over 37.5 degrees would be denied entry. Taiwan has been lauded for its efforts in containing the spread of Covid-19, with 482 confirmed cases and seven deaths among a population of 23.7mil. It had lifted restrictions for large-scale events such as concerts in June.

On paper, this benefit concert on Jul 26 in the Hamptons, headlined by DJ duo The Chainsmokers, sounded like it had gotten all the safe distancing measures down pat. It would allow 600 vehicles into its drive-in concert venue to get ‘Closer’ to EDM stars, and would ensure that people wore masks and kept to their vehicle’s allotted space. The gig was organised to raise funds for charities, and tickets were going for a whopping US$850 to US$25,000.

However, social media videos and photos of the gig, attended by about 2,000 people, showed that rampant violations of social distancing measures. Many attendees were without masks, others had ventured out of their vehicles and designated spots and were bunching in what looked like a mosh pit where there were no crowd control markers present. Even New York governor Andrew Cuomo tweeted that he was “appalled” by the “egregious social distancing violations”. At the time of the gig, New York State was still in a declared state of emergency, and all non-essential gatherings of more than 50 were banned, with a maximum fine of US$1,000 for violating regulations. Organisers are under investigation by the Department of Health.

Photos: Tuk Tuk Festival, Chang World, SSD Concerts, Virgin Money Unity Arena, David Wala Photography, Secret Signals, Twitter, Instagram