The Coronavirus pandemic that began in early 2020, hit certain industries harder that others. Sports, culture, tourism and entertainment industries were the first affected, the hardest hit, and have taken the longest to recover. Live concert events have had to pivot, sometimes on a monthly basis.
Mark Rashotte is the owner of the Empire Theatre.
“For us to put a show on, you don’t just announce a show and have the show the next day. It’s a two- or three-month lead up to it. You have to announce, you have to sell tickets, you have to get prepared, all the deals. The fact that we’ve had fluctuating capacities, from 0 to 50 (people) to 50%, 100%, and back down to zero. It’s really tough.”
He says for many concerts to make financial sense, you have to have a close to capacity crowd, or it does not work. He adds the latest has been rescheduling of shows.
“And then you have to get ahold of all the people that bought tickets, and hopefully they don’t ask for their money back, but if they do they get it back. But of course all the artists, they have tours that they’re in the middle of, depending on what province they’re in, the rules are different. A lot of tours just got cancelled. Financially, it’s been a crazy show for two years at the theatre.”
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Rock 107’s Rick Kevan and Empire owner Mark Rashotte welcome Extreme to the stage (photo: Quinte News/ Tim Durkin)
With the exception of two nights of music this past fall, there have been no outdoor concerts in four years, and no Empire Rockfest in that time. The theatre also cancelled or postponed many shows for the early part of 2022, because of unpredictability. Rashotte says that will change this summer.
“No we are back, July 14 – 16, it’s going to be a rocking weekend outside. So we’re going full tilt. With everyone opening up the way it is right now, we’ll be able to fully announce our summer events very very soon.”
Rashotte says it will be three nights of music, and there will be some great surprises as part of it.
A large audience packed inside Empire Rockfest (Photo Credit: Bob House for Empire Square Live)
