With technology on our side, live shows might be making a comeback sooner than we think.

Ticketmaster, the global leading ticketing sales and distribution company, has rolled out plans to safely welcome fans back to live gigs.

Dubbed SmartEvent, the new suite of technology tools will include various mechanisms to make things easier for event hosts to operate in a post-COVID world and abide by all the safety regulations at the same time.

Their Social Distance Seating Tool employs custom algorithms to work out venue size, the distance between seats and other data points to determine safe venue capacities, while their Timed Entry Tool enables event organisers to plan out designated arrival times for fans and entryways to minimise crowds and prevent overcrowding. Additionally, Entry Rate Monitoring Tools will aid in avoiding congestion in venues.

Photo from Livenation Entertainment 

To further reinforce contactless concert experiences, the traditional box office facility will also be transformed into a Contactless Box Office, with the ability to manage ticketing transactions, refunds, etc. while fans can enter the venues safely through Contactless Scanners by accessing digital tickets from their mobile devices.

Mark Yovich, President of Ticketmaster said in a statement, “We know that fans around the world are eager to return to live events and SmartEvent gives event organizers an array of solutions to help make that possible." 

“SmartEvent brings together our advanced technology platform and industry-leading venue and seating insights, putting Ticketmaster in the unique position to facilitate paths back to live.” 

Singapore has also recently announced that live performances are allowed to make a return starting November, where live shows can have up to two zones at a maximum of 50 people each. 

In the meantime, various socially-distanced concerts have been taking place around the world, such as the Tuk Tuk Drive-In concert in Bangkok, as well as the Sam Fender show held in Newcastle last August. Immersive online concerts are also the new norm with the likes of BTS, Billie Eilish, Joji, Arashi, and more holding their own virtual shows.

The RESTART-19 project was also held in Germany by university researchers to study the risk of virus transmissions in large and enclosed events. Results came out earlier this week, with the findings stating that "events could also take place under specific conditions during a pandemic. The most important finding for us was understanding how crucial it is to have good ventilation technology. This is key to lowering the risk of infection.”