Live music in Europe: 5,000 attend rock concert in Barcelona after Covid-19 screening

The tickets cost around $30 and included a Covid-19 test and a face mask

People line up outside a club to be screened for Covid-19 ahead of a music concert in Barcelona, Spain, on March 27, 2021. AP Photo

Health workers collect swab samples for rapid antigen tests for Covid-19 from people who will attend a rock music concert in Barcelona, Spain. AFP

Five thousand music lovers attended a rock concert in Barcelona on Saturday after passing a same-day Covid-19 screening test. AP Photo

Spectators attend a rock music concert by Spanish group Love of Lesbian at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona on March 27, 2021. AFP

The show was held with special permission from Spanish health authorities. AP Photo

Tickets cost between $27 and $33 and included the price of the Covid-19 test and a high-quality face mask. AP Photo

While face masks were obligatory, social distancing was not as part of a study on virus propagation. AFP

The crowd wearing face masks at a rock concert in Barcelona, Spain, on March 27. AP Photo

A couple take a selfie as they wait for the start of the rock music concert. AFP

If one overlooked the white face masks dotting the tightly packed crowd of music lovers, it was almost like pre-pandemic times in Barcelona's Palau Sant Jordi concert hall on Saturday night.

Five thousand rock fans enjoyed a real-as-can-be concert after passing same-day coronavirus screening, to test its effectiveness in preventing outbreaks of the virus at large cultural events.

The only rule inside the show was the strict use of the high-quality face masks provided by concert organisers.

"We were able to evade reality for a while," said Jose Parejo, 40. "We were inside our small concert bubble. And we were even able to remember back in time when things like this one were normal. Things that nowadays aren't that normal, sadly."

The show by Spanish rock group Love of Lesbian had special permission from Spanish health authorities. While the rest of the country was limited to gatherings of no more than four people in closed spaces, the concertgoers were able to mix freely.

The musicians were also swept up in the moment.

“It’s been a year and half since we last set foot on a scenario as a band," singer Santi Balmes told the crowd. "This is so ... some of the musicians are crying over here."

Ticket buyers chose between three venues in Barcelona where they could take a quick antigen test on Saturday morning. Those with negative results got a code on their phones validating their tickets for the 7pm show.

People with heart disease, cancer or those who have been in contact with someone infected by Covid-19 in recent weeks were asked not to sign up.

Organisers said it was the first commercial event with an audience that big held in Europe during the pandemic.

The show was sold out. The tickets, ranging from €23-€28 ($27-$33), included the cost of the test and the face mask that was obligatory except when eating or drinking in designated areas.

Health workers collect swab samples before a rock concert in Barcelona, Spain on Saturday. AFP

The concert was backed by local authorities and by experts of Barcelona’s The Fight Aids and Infectious Diseases Foundation, which also organised a case study around a smaller concert of 500 people in December. They said that the results of that preliminary case study showed pre-screening with antigen tests and the use of face masks succeeded in preventing infections inside the concert, despite there being no social distancing rules.

“This is another small step toward being able to hold concerts and cultural events” during the pandemic, said Dr Boris Revollo, the virologist involved in the design of the health protocols.

In addition to being 10 times larger than the concert in December, this time there was no control group maintained outside the concert hall.

A couple take a selfie as they wait for the start of a rock music concert in Barcelona, Spain. Wearing face masks was obligatory at the concert. AFP

Instead, concertgoers agreed public health authorities can inform Revollo’s team if they come down with the coronavirus in the weeks after the concert. With that information, Revollo’s team will do an analysis of infection rates among the 5,000 concertgoers compared with that of the general population to see if there are any discrepancies that could point to contagion at the concert.