Live Nation, AEG Suspend Artist Touring Until April as Coronavirus Spreads

Live Nation and AEG, North America’s largest concert promoters, are halting all large-scale tours in the U.S. and abroad until April and asking artists to come home amid coronavirus fears.

The competitors aligned with the biggest booking agencies in the country to mount a unified effort to address the situation. In a joint statement, executives from Live Nation, AEG, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), William Morris Endeavor (WME), Paradigm, and United Talent Agency (UTA) said they are working together to develop best practices to safeguard artists, fans, and staff in the concert industry.

“The world’s leading forces in live entertainment have come together to form a global task force to drive strategic support and unified direction ensuring precautionary efforts and ongoing protocol are in the best interest of artists, fans, staff, and the global community,” the coalition said in a joint statement. “At this time, we collectively recommend large scale events through the end of March be postponed. “We continue to support that small-scale events follow guidance set by their local government officials. We feel fortunate to have the flexibility to reschedule concerts, festivals, and live events as needed, and look forward to connecting fans with all their favorite artists and live entertainment soon.”

Live Nation informed its employees that the suspension of touring activities would last through the end of the month and, other than a few shows Thursday and Friday, will be effective immediately while the organization figures out its next move. A source close to the situation tells Rolling Stone that the hope is that tours resume in April, though many large-scale tours such as the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant and Justin Bieber, don’t start until May.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/live-nation-halts-touring-coronavirus-966385/