Hangout Music Festival Hesitant About This Spring’s Dates: Will 2020 Cancellations Continue Into 2021?

Alabama’s Hangout Music Festival is raising an eyebrow at their typical weekend in May, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the United States. This Gulf Shores staple for music fans of multiple genres posted an update on Twitter, alerting fans of the potential for another cancellation.

We all saw this coming. 2020 may be ending, but that doesn’t mean all our troubles are too. Large events, live music, and venues full of sweaty strangers still pose a significant risk to attendees. Again, the pandemic isn’t miraculously over on January 1st. Hangout Music Festival’s Twitter account does acknowledge the promising vaccine progress, but concedes that it is truly too soon to tell.

I appreciate their promptness in managing expectations as we head into 2021, and a spring season once ripe with music festival fun. The same can’t be said for all events supposedly on the calendar from March to May. Coachella has done very little in the way of communicating their intentions for this April. An article on Desert Sun, “Coachella hasn’t officially been canceled for April 2021. Here’s what we know — and don’t know,” dives into the festival specifically, detailing the information, and lack thereof, when it comes to Coachella’s likelihood to take place as planned. They even cite a Rolling Stone article, speculating about another postponement to October 2021.

Basically, everything is still so up in the air– whether it be Hangout in May, Coachella in April, or Lollapalooza in August. We’ll just have to sit tight, be patient, and support our favorite festivals and artists as we walk elbow-in-elbow into another bonkers year.