Courtesy
The House of Blues at Mandalay Bay.
Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021 | 10:38 a.m.
Two of the most prominent live music venues on the Las Vegas Strip, the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay and Brooklyn Bowl at the Linq Promenade, are expected to require ticket-holders to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test beginning October 4. Concert giant Live Nation adjusted its policy on Friday and will require the same of all artists, crew and attendees at its festivals and venues across the country.
In Las Vegas, Live Nation is one of the largest concert and live entertainment event promoters, operating those two popular theaters and partnering with Caesars Entertainment to run residency shows at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood, as well as with MGM Resorts for events at Park Theater, among other shows on and off the Strip. Casino-owned and operated venues like those big residency rooms fall outside of Live Nation’s policies but the company said it has developed best practices for artists to request the policies at third party venues.
Live Nation previously announced it would be up to its artists to enforce the mandates but instituted the stricter guidelines for shows this fall where permitted by law due to the continued spread of the Delta variant. Its recent Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, where attendees were required to show proof of vaccination or negative test, was considered successful in avoiding superspreader status, and a Live Nation spokesperson told Rolling Stone 12% of fans said the festival was the reason they were vaccinated.
Other entertainment companies and Las Vegas events and venues recently announced similar policies.
