Peter Shapiro and the LOCKN’ team have officially announced that the festival has been postponed to October 1st–3rd, 2021. In lieu of the physical gathering, the festival will host a three night run of live stream concerts by Joe Russo’s Almost Dead from Infinity Downs in Arrington, VA before an empty crowd.
Back in April, organizers initially postponed LOCKN’ to October 2nd–4th, 2020 as the global pandemic ground the gig economy to a halt. As time went by and it became apparent that there would be no large scale festivals in 2020, LOCKN’ raised eyebrows by seemingly remaining committed to the October 2020 dates, even sending out safety measures to ticketholders last month. Now the widely-assumed reality is official: there will be no LOCKN’ this year.
In an exclusive announcement via Pollstar, Shapiro stated that, while he and his team were working to develop safety measures, that the risk just too great.
“Too often, you just see these examples on social media of people not doing it right,” Shapiro said in reference to recent concerts by Smash Mouth, The Chainsmokers, and more where social distancing guidelines have been flaunted. “We were going to try and do it right, which would’ve been good and helpful, and I’m bummed that we can’t.”
Despite the cancellation of the festival, there will still be live music at Infinity Downs this summer as JRAD will perform for three nights before an empty crowd at the LOCKN’ site. Ticketholders for this year’s festival will be granted free access to the streams, which will air on Shapiro’s FANS platform. Information for those without tickets will be available soon, Pollstar said.
For information on how to seek refunds, roll tickets over to next year, or donate tickets, head over to the LOCKN’ website. Watch LOCKN’ founder Peter Shapiro announce the postponement below.
LOCKN’ Moved To October 1–3, 2021
[Video: Relix]