Atlanta music venues can reopen July 1 - but will they?

ATLANTA — Eddie Owen is frustrated.

The owner of Eddie Owen Presents at the Red Clay Music Foundry isn’t sure when the venue tucked inside the Duluth building that also contains a music school will be able to present live performances to an in-house audience, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

“It’s tough to plan a budget for a show when you can only make 30 to 40 seats available,” he said of the 260-capacity music room.

[RELATED: Going to see your favorite band in concert is going to look very different once venues reopen]

His weariness with the effects that COVID-19 has wrought on the live music industry is echoed by his peers who handle other mid-sized independent venues across Atlanta — all of which have been closed since mid-March. (Don’t expect any large-scale arena, amphitheater or stadium show this year — if tours haven’t already been bumped to 2021 or canceled, they will be soon.)

“Right now, for me, it doesn’t seem feasible to open,” said Andrew Hingley, talent buyer for Eddie’s Attic, the 165-capacity Decatur music stalwart that Owen established in the early 1990s (it was sold in 2011). “My gut is to do one or two small things later in July and hope that by August we’re in a situation where we can go, ‘OK, we can put a few dozen people in here and they’re several feet apart.’ But it also comes down to, are people comfortable eating and drinking in there? And if everyone has masks on, I think the customer can get lost in the show and enjoy it, but I’m not sure the musicians will love looking out and seeing surgical masks. Do I want to do it? I do. But I’m scared of hurting the energy in the room. I want people to go back to Eddie’s and think, ‘Oh my God, I missed this.’ Not, ‘This doesn’t feel the same.’”

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This story was written by Melissa Ruggieri for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Gov. Kemp lifts more COVID-19 restrictions for restaurants, conventions and concert venues The governor has decided to reopen some live music venues and allow buffets to return to restaurants. Get live coverage on Channel 2 Action News.

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