Guess Germany isn’t returning to live yet after all. Bryan Adams was set to headline a German stadium concert called “Return To Live” at Düsseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena next Friday, but Billboard reports that the show has now been pushed from the summer of ’20 to the “late fall” of ’20 due to a spike in coronavirus cases.
In recent weeks, daily infection numbers in Germany have risen to levels comparable to late April, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has extended the ban on large-scale public events to 2021. North Rhine-Westphalia, the state where Düsseldorf is located, reported 1888 new cases over the last seven days, the second-highest number of any German state other than Bavaria.
“Despite a comprehensive health, hygiene, and safety program, organizers felt compelled to cancel the event in view of the increasing number of infections and subsequent capacity restrictions that were imposed on the event,” the arena says in a statement, alludingn to “concerns from the state government” and sayingn that “the opposing positions could not be bridged.”
“Return To Live” was expected to draw a crowd of up to 12,000 to see Adams, the BossHoss, Sarah Connnor, Rea Garvey, and Michael Mittermeier, signalling the end of Germany’s five-month shut-down of large concerts. More than 7000 tickets were already sold and are now being refunded, including fees for advanced booking.
