By: Emma Magit — Correspondent

With Covid vaccination rates rising and infection rates decreasing around the globe, it’s getting safer to travel and spend time with people. Now, many music artists are hitting the road for their long-awaited tours. 

Some artists, such as Harry Styles and the Jonas Brothers are continuing with their tours right out of the gate in 2022 while many others are now waking from their pandemic slumber and renewing their acts during this highly anticipated 2022 year.

The new year will see several musicians’ rescheduled tours taking place alongside some new tours. While fans can probably expect some hiccups along the way, like rescheduled shows due to Covid, tours really do seem to be back in business for the long haul. 

In the Boston area, Fenway Park will host the talents of Lady Gaga, Aerosmith, and Paul McCartney who had to reschedule their 2020 and 2021 concerts but will return to the ballpark starting in August. Other venues in the area, such as the Xfinity Center and Gillette Stadium, are jam-packed with scheduled concerts all the way from April through September.

SHS senior, Savannah Gray, says that she is really happy that Covid restrictions have been lifted. “I am so happy that there are no restrictions anymore. It’s great. The last concert I went to was Conan Gray, I was able to not wear a mask and it was really good and fun,” said Gray.

Artists such as Elton John, The Weekend, and Kenny Chesney are performing in July and August at Gillette Stadium. Those who perform at Gillette are thought to produce a large crowd.

SHS senior, Melanie Lefkowitz, says that she is skeptical about large venues. “As someone who has not had Covid before, I would feel comfortable going to a smaller concert like at the Xfinity Center but concerts at Gillette might be a little bit too much for me because the crowds are much bigger,” said Lefkowitz.

SHS senior, Sydney Ronkin, says that she is going to a concert at the House of Blues in Boston in April, and she is very excited. “I have not been to a concert in a really long time and I miss them. I am going to the Lil Tecca concert at the House of Blues and even though it is a smaller, enclosed venue, I feel fine going because I have already had Covid and I’m fully vaccinated,” said Ronkin.

Live music discovery and ticket purchasing app, Bandsintown, has reported an increase of 8 million users in the last six months. Fabrice Sergent, the app’s managing partner, told NME that those numbers were “pretty astonishing,” adding that recent ticket-buying behavior in the US showed that “demand for live events is very strong.” “In terms of the number of upcoming shows and festivals being announced [in 2022], we’re still at about half of the number that were announced during this same period of time in the U.S. in 2019 and 2020,” said Sergent. 

Even with 50 percent less shows, however, Bandsintown still described “a high level of consumer interest.” “We saw a very strong January in terms of the number of tickets sold; it was twice as many as 2019. It’s about 100 percent gross in 2022 compared to January 2019. It tells the story that there will be an unprecedented level of demand this year,” said Sergent.