Vegas music festivals react to coronavirus concerns

Las Vegas’ longest-running music festival is suspending ticket sales due to coronavirus concerns.

Popular international rockabilly weekender Viva Las Vegas, now its 23rd year, has decided to halt tickets sales — at least for now.

“The next three days would have been our busiest three days of ticket sales in the whole year,” festival founder Tom Ingram told the Review-Journal in an email, “and I was not comfortable selling so many tickets during this uncertain time.”

Ingram noted in a separate email to fans that the fest was still on .

“At this stage VLV is going ahead,” he wrote. “We do not intend canceling it but, of course, things could change and the authorities could ask us to cancel. In that situation we would happily carry over your tickets to next year. Both VLV and the hotel are requiring their staff to follow strict protocol on cleaning, disinfecting, handwashing and general hygiene to try and limit the possibility of spreading any viruses.”

Other Vegas music fests set for April and May also are moving forward despite the uncertainty.

The biggest of them all, mammoth electronic dance music festival the Electric Daisy Carnival, remains scheduled for May 15-17 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, though Insomniac productions, the company behind it, has declined numerous interview requests to speak about their plans moving forward.

Meanwhile, the new Reggae Rise Up Music Festival Las Vegas, set to debut at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center on April 18-19, with Slightly Stoopid, Dirty Heads and nearly 20 others, is still on.

“There are no plans to cancel at this time,” the festival said in a statement sent to the RJ. “However, we’re monitoring the situation closely.”

Plans for the annual Punk Rock Bowling festivities, which draw about 10,000 a day at the same venue along with numerous club shows at various downtown showrooms, remain in place for May 21-25.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re on,” says festival co-founder Shawn Stern of this year’s event, headlined by the Circle Jerks, Cock Sparrer and Madness.” “Of course, we’re concerned, but what are we going to do? Just say, ‘Well, let’s wait until we figure out what’s going on with the world?’ We don’t have that luxury.

“Everybody’s bought tickets, they’ve reserved their rooms, they’ve got travel arrangements,” he adds. “Things are changing every day. We have to go with the assumption that we’re a ‘go,’ and if the government, the health department, says to us, ‘Hey, we’re going to shut everything down, well, obviously then we have no choice.”

Until then, things will keep moving forward, according to Stern, including all those mosh pits come May.

“Look, the uncertainty, there’s nothing you can do,” he says. “So, you just move along with your plan, and if you’ve got to make adjustments and changes, we will. We’ll figure it out — one way or another.”

Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.