‘A Very Emotional Night For Everyone’: Inside Barcelona’s 5,000-Cap Test Concert

Looks almost normal:
Xavi Torrent – Looks almost normal:
If it wasn’t for the masks, you wouldn’t know the difference to a normal show.

The promoters behind Cruïlla Festival in Barcelona, Spain, pulled off a test concert March 27 with Spanish indie rockers Love of Lesbian, who performed in front of a crowd of 5,000 – all tested beforehand and wearing masks on site at the Palau Sant Jordi. 

You can see the emotions, even though the faces are mostly covered up.
Xavi Torrent – You can see the emotions, even though the faces are mostly covered up.
 “The crowd was amazing, the level of civility that they showed to each other was amazing. Everyone wore masks and followed the rules at all times, which we were really, really impressed by,” said Cruïlla Festival Director Jordi Herreruela about the event, which was realised in cooperation with Barcelona’s health authorities and scientists.
“The professionalism of the organization was very high. At this point, we are happy, but we have to wait for the outcome,” said Herreruela, who explained that it should take two weeks for any infections that occurred during the concert to show up in comparison with Barcelona’s public health database. He’s cautious not to enjoy the elation he felt over the weekend too much until the final report is in, “but, of course, we are happy.” He positively mentioned the press reports in the lead-up to and aftermath of the concert, which seemed to understand that the event was conducted as a proper scientific trial. 
Every visitor was tested at the gate, test kits and masks were provided by the promoters.  Six out of the 5,000 people, who had bought a ticket for the concert tested positive, which matched the five to 10 positive cases the promoters had expected. The positive cases, and the people they came with, were sent home, but were able to return their tickets. Herreruela expects some positive cases after the two-week period, but as long as they’re in line with the spread among the rest of society, the concert will not be to blame. 
It was an emotional night for everyone, including the band.
Xavi Torrent – It was an emotional night for everyone, including the band.
Some members of Love of Lesbian cried by the first song.
The performing band, Love of Lesbian, “more than enjoyed” the experience, he continued. Although used to performing in front of 15,000 to 20,000 people in their home territory, “it was one of the greatest shows of their life,” Herreruela declared. “It’s quite crazy how much the bands, and even the promoters enjoy shows now. We have, of course, long since accepted that this is our job, and sometimes we may have treated it like it is just that: A job. But we have been forbidden [from doing it] for one year. So now that we can do our jobs again, it’s really, really emotional,” he explained. “Some of the band members were crying by the first song, various members of the audience were crying at different moments. Just being able to listen to sound coming from big speakers inside a big venue and feeling it inside your body, to dance, to jam, to be able to touch people – it was a very emotional night for everyone.”
Herreruela recalled his wife asking him whether he wanted to go get a drink at some point during the show. “I said, ‘No,’ I just wanted to enjoy the full show. When have you last heard of a promoter staying through the full show?,” he joked. He said that a lot of live event professionals from around Europe and the world were inquiring about the protocols and processes in place on the night. 
“We are asking anyone to wait for the results before we begin to transfer all that knowledge,” he explained, adding that there was still a lot to work out in terms of making the COVID-proof event concept economically viable. “It may seem that anyone could do it, but it’s still too technical right now. I hope, in the coming months we will make it easier and cheaper,” Herreruela concluded.