The current Covid 19 pandemic has been no joke. Last year, concerts and tours were going on as planned while Covid cases continued to rise with a new variant. Dead and Company announced a “business as usual” tour and moved forward with their annual “Playing in the Sand” festival in Cancun.
The six day festival was slated to kick off on the 7th and things started spiraling. Guitarist/vocalist John Mayer had tested positive for Covid before leaving the States and the band announced that they would be performing without him opting to have some special guests sit in for the shows.
Fans seemed to go along with this but then the eve of the 7th, Dead and Company released an official statement cancelling the festival all together:
“Dead & Company and CID Presents tried everything possible to bring normalcy and to deliver a great experience and amazing music, but with each day it became increasingly clear that canceling is the correct thing to do for the fans and for our crew.”
Ticket holders will be refunded for the show, and Jonathan Fordin, an executive at CID, said that any attendees who flew into Cancun prior to the show’s cancellation will be given a full refund and their stay in Cancun will be comped. That deal covers the show and lodging package, but not airfare, which concertgoers purchased separately.
While the Dead and Company statement could have been taken as indicating that the cancellation was merely out of an abundance of caution, CID clarified in its separate release that the fest being called off was “due to additional COVID-19 cases amongst multiple artists and staff.”
In a nutshell, Dead and Company fucked up and it seems that it took more than one of their own to get the virus to make them cancel. As for those stranded in Cancun, it sucks but I don’t feel bad for any of you. Traveling like this during a pandemic is taking a gamble and unfortunately you lost. Enjoy your free vacations and pleas come back home with NEGATIVE tests.
About The Author
