Pollstar (07/31/20) Waddell, Ray

Live Nation's "Live from the Drive-In" concert series in July managed to bring live music and fans together in the same place amid the pandemic, with performances in St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Nashville. Live Nation Country President Brian O'Connell recalls that the idea was an attempt to "figure out how we could be the leader in doing something, with the caveat being we're not going to just do something just for the sake of doing it, because the ramifications of doing it incorrectly are clearly not a good thing." Brad Paisley was one of the first artists who volunteered to perform, and O'Connell says this made sense from the standpoint of the drive-in experience "and Brad has a giant affinity for cars." Capacity was limited to roughly 600 cars in Nashville in the parking lot of Nissan Stadium, and about 1,000 cars in Ruoff Music Center lot in Indianapolis and the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre lot in St. Louis. As the shows were staged in parking lots, Live Nation partnered with Nashville-based Moo TV on creating delay video and sound and invested "a lot" into production. On-site, band and crew employed the facilities in the venue, including backstage and dressing rooms, and each member of the downsized crew had their own dressing room. "The conditions in these markets were, at the time, appropriate and welcomed by governmental agencies, and our job was to show that we could do this in a socially responsible way, given the circumstances, and bring people a sense of hope and normalcy where they were safe," O'Connell notes.

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