43% of triple j listeners won’t attend festivals without a vaccine

Youth broadcaster triple j has surveyed some 1,500 listeners, with almost half revealing they would not attend a music festival until a coronavirus vaccine was discovered.

The survey was conducted via the triple j app, with almost half of all respondents continuing to feel uncertain about large gatherings.

The results were released on Thursday, offering festival promoters some insight into how punters are feeling as event organisers prepare to rebuild the sector after restrictions are lifted.

Event cancellations and postponements in Australia, including Groovin The Moo, Download and Bluesfest, have lost the sector $340 million, according to I Lost My Gig.

Triple j said 57% of those polled said they’d have no problems attending a festival in the current climate and 43% agreeing it would be unwise to venture out.

The outcome of a similar study of 4,000 music fans by Reuters in the US revealed that 60% said there’d be no way they’d be attending a live music event given the current pandemic.

Commenting on the triple j findings, the ABC’s coronavirus expert, Dr Norman Swan, told Dr Karl’s Science Hour yesterday that “social distancing is impossible at a music festival”.

“You are in close contact with other people and it only takes a few people to be infected for that to spread, and if you’ve got one super spreader in there, you’re stuffed. It’s high risk.”

When asked if Splendour should proceed in October, Swan said it was too soon to call.

“We certainly would not be contemplating large-scale gatherings,” he said. “It’s hard for me to envisage reopening of nightclubs and big music festivals in the foreseeable future.”