Concert Venues Around Maine Will Soon Want Proof Of Vaccination

You knew this was going to happen....

In the last 24 hours, dozens of concert venues around Maine are announcing they will require proof of vaccination to gain entry into their shows. If you just cruise around on social media at all, tons of clubs and bigger halls are calling for vax proof. Portland House of Music, The State Theater, and even the Bangor Arts Exchange.

Live Nation made an announcement that starting in October, they would be doing the same thing on a national level. That could affect Waterfront Concerts and the Cross Center come fall as well. As of today, you don't need any kind of proof of vaccination or even a mask, to enter. For instance, the KISS show tonight has none of these requirements.

The backlash begins.

As many would expect, if you get into the comment sections on social media, there's a pretty wide swath of opinions ranging from praise to boycotts. It's definitely heartbreaking to see places have to get to this level, but it's that or back to shutting their doors altogether. No one wants that.

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But as a venue owner, I don't think I could just sit by and do nothing. And it seems you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't. But I'm not sure my conscience would allow me to just stay open willy-nilly, and just let the chips fall where they may. Having potential sickness, or even death of a patron, would be horrible.

So what's next?

Well, that's hard to say. The delta variant is raging through the country, and at the same time no one wants clubs and concert venues to close. But taking care of each other, sometimes in spite of each other, is what we have to do. Not everyone is going to like it, but not every club will follow suit.

We live in a free country, and this will certainly be an issue for a while. Hopefully, people can move on and do whatever suits them best. I'm not here to shame anyone or praise anyone. I see people doing what their conscience tells them to do. Will that please everyone? No. But did anything ever please everyone before?