LOS ANGELES — Live music venues in Los Angeles and across the state went dark in March 2020 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unlike restaurants, bars and retail spaces, which have been allowed to reopen with limited capacity, outdoor seating and other adjustments, live music venues have remained closed throughout the pandemic. 

But on Thursday, April 15, after more than 13 months of being shut down, indoor venues were given the go-ahead to reopen with limited capacity and amid strict COVID protocols that include:

• In-state visitors only
• Weekly worker testing program
• All tickets delivered digitally with advanced purchase only
• Pre-designated eating area with no eating/drinking allowed in seats
• Six feet of distance
• Suites 25% capacity with a maximum of three households per party

The state’s mask mandate will also be enforced. 

Although if you were hoping to catch a band in a packed club this weekend with fans standing shoulder to shoulder, sweat dripping from the ceiling and people crowd-surfing, you may have to wait a while longer. 

While this latest loosening of the rules as laid out in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy would allow music venues in LA and around the state to reopen in limited capacity, it appears most will remain shuttered for now.

Why?

For starters, while restaurants and retail can just about stay afloat operating in reduced capacity, the overhead required for even a small venue to staff up, book and pay talent and promote a show that’s limited to 25% capacity, means it’s not viable financially.

"Security, sound, lighting, chefs, servers, bartenders, cleaning staff, management, payroll companies, etc. All these things make live music and full-service dining not financially viable at full capacity. So limited capacity is a no-win venture," said a spokesperson for the Redwood Bar & Grill, a DTLA venue known for booking garage, punk and rock bands.

Nor is it viable for bands dependent on ticket sales and the merch table to make a living to go play a show in a venue that’s only a quarter filled. 

Also, reactivating a national and local live music infrastructure that’s been ground to a halt for over a year—booking bands, hiring back staff and doing promotions—is something that can’t just happen overnight.

"Artists. The merchandise is artists. I don’t have a million frozen bands in the shape of burger patties waiting to exploit a pandemic," said the spokesperson for the Redwood.

Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom outlined plans for the state to fully reopen California’s economy on June 15. So while live performances at indoor venues are technically permitted to resume this week, it appears most venues are keeping their powder dry until then.

Live Nation, which operates several of LA’s premier mid-sized venues, including the Wiltern and the Palladium, has no live performances on the calendars of any of its local venues until July 30. 

The Redwood is back open for food and drinks. However, it’s still streaming live music events via its Twitch and YouTube channels.

"Bands need to perform. So we’re losing money streaming bands, but we still do it because we love it. And them," said the Redwood's spokesperson.

Spaceland Presents, an east side booking company that sprang from the influential music venue of the same name—which was an early casualty of the pandemic—still books shows in several venues including the Echo, Echoplex and Regent. But it too has nothing on the books until the summer. 

Likewise for the Hotel Cafe, the famously intimate singer/songwriter venue that played host to early LA performances from the likes of Adele, Damien Rice and Katy Perry among many others. It has nothing on its calendar until the fall, and that’s provided it even survives until then. The Troubadour, one of LA’s most iconic venues, has only livestream events on its calendar through mid-June.

The good news is even with the return of live indoor music shows still likely a month or two off, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel for venues in the form of long-awaited relief from the government. The Save our Stages Act, championed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, passed as part of the December COVID-19 relief bill with $16 billion allotted for cultural and music venues. After several months of being tied up in bureaucratic red tape, applications for music venues to apply for relief opened on April 8. 

So after a year of pandemic, that at times seemed as if it would never end, LA’s music venues have a potential lifeline at last. Now it’s hopefully a matter of those venues, and the bands and fans that give them life, holding on just a little while longer.

As for the Redwood downtown, the day when the stage lights come back up can't come soon enough.

"We need [venues] now more than ever. For our souls as a people. For a year of unshared griefs and milestones," said the Redwood spokesperson. "For friends and family, for a culture unlike any other I know of, I need to be of service. My employees need to be of service."