As live music disappears across the country, a new outdoor venue in Connecticut promises socially distanced concerts

In the middle of the biggest crisis facing the music industry in recent memory, a New Haven-based promoter is launching a new outdoor music and comedy venture on a Litchfield County farm.

Twilight Concerts (and Comedy) on the Farm will host national acts at South Farms, a 10-acre family-run farm and event space in Morris, Connecticut, starting in late August and running through October.

The venture is being launched by Premier Concerts/Manic Presents, the promoter behind College Street Music Hall and yet-unopened Westville Music Bowl in New Haven and the Space Ballroom in Hamden, and NHCPA South Farms, LLC, a subsidiary of New Haven Center for Performing Arts Inc. The farm is owned by the Paletsky family.

Confirmed acts include Vermont singer-songwriter Grace Potter on Aug. 22 and comedian Nikki Glaser (Netflix’s Bangin, Comedy Central’s Not Safe with Nikki Glaser) on Aug. 30. Tickets go on sale Aug. 7 at 10 a.m.

“It’s been it’s been nearly five months since any live shows have happened,” senior talent buyer Mark Nussbaum said. “On a personal level, this would be by far the longest I’ve gone without seeing a live performance I was probably 10 years old, and I really miss it. ... We’re in the business of bringing people together to enjoy life experiences. I think it’s been really tough for a lot of people.”

Twilight also represents a new model of low-capacity, all-outdoor venues, designed specifically to host concerts in the pandemic era.

Tickets will be sold using a “grid” system, with 250 marked-out 8-foot squares available — each square holds two people — for purchase between $100-$160. Each square is surrounded by an additional grid for social distancing and flanked by aisle spacing.

Before entering the farm, musicians, crew, staff and audience members will be screened for temperature and asked to fill out a short health questionnaire.

Once inside, a staff member will walk masked audience members to their grids. You can remove your mask while in the grid, but you have to wear it for trips to the trips to the restroom or concession stand. Grids can’t be combined with other grids.

The farm will be set up with food trucks, a full bar (alcohol, water and soft drinks) and several satellite stands with ground markers indicating where patrons should stand while waiting in line. Guests can bring lawn chairs and blankets. Grids can’t be combined with adjacent spaces.

Staff members will enforce safety protocols, such as the use of masks and social distancing, using a “one strike and then you’re out” system, similar to if you were spotted smoking a cigarette. Hand sanitizing stations will be located throughout the venue.

“Our primary concern is the safety and comfort of our audience,” said Keith Mahler, president and CEO of Premier Concerts.

As COVID-19 cases surge across the country, Gov. Ned Lamont has pushed back aspects of Connecticut’s third phase of reopening, bringing more uncertainty to the question of when live music might return to Connecticut stages.

When the coronavirus hit Connecticut, the June opening of Premier’s Westville Music Bowl, a 3,000 to 5,000-capacity outdoor stadium in New Haven, was postponed until 2021.

But if the numbers continue to trend in the right direction, music fans can expect to see a flood of outdoor concert announcements over the next few weeks, as venues take advantage of the remaining warm-weather months.

Several outdoor concerts are already scheduled to take place in August in Ridgefield, including two Grace Potter solo performances at Ballard Park on Aug. 15 and back-to-back nights featuring Nick Fradiani and Javier Colon in the field next to the Ridgefield Playhouse on Aug. 28-29.

According to the Phase 2 Reopen Rules by Sector guidance posted for outdoor events, outdoor organized gatherings are currently capped at 500 people, with event organizers responsible for compliance. Outdoor event venues can operate at 25% of fire capacity.

David Lehman, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, has said he believes reduced-capacity outdoor concerts will remain the safest way to hear live music.

“Indoor arts centers are very important to the economy, but we’re just going to be more measured in terms of the amount of people that are allowed there, given what we think of the heightened risk,” Lehman told the Courant in July.

Across the U.S., artists and promoters are experimenting with limited-capacity concerts at drive-in movie theaters and other empty venues, while up-and-coming bands like Norwalk’s Goose turn a profit from livestreaming shows.

Last month, Live Nation hosts its Live From the Drive-in concert series in Nashville, Missouri and Indiana, where fans drove into amphitheater parking lots (four people maximum per car) to catch live sets by Brad Paisley, Nelly and Darius Rucker.

As the U.S. Senate considers additional relief for small businesses, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Texas Sen. John Cornyn introduced the Save Our Stages bill, which would provide six months of financial support to independent venue operators, promoters, and talent reps. The bill would supply grants to pay mortgages, rent, utilities, maintenance and other operating costs.

At the beginning of the shutdown, many Connecticut venues joined the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a new lobbying effort for independent music venues with close to 2,000 members across the country, according to the organization.

Michael Hamad can be reached at mhamad@courant.com.

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