When COVID-19 took over the world, concerts were one of the first things to get shut down. Avid concertgoers have been anxiously awaiting the return of live music and with the summer of 2021 approaching quickly, many have been wondering when it will be safe to return. No tours are set to take place this summer, but music festivals have been popping up across the country offering socially-distanced live music opportunities. In addition to this, artists have started to announce tours for 2022. One of the first to do this was AJR, a band made-up of 3 brothers from New York.
The “OK ORCHESTRA” tour is scheduled to begin on April 28, 2022 in Dallas, Texas, followed by 27 other shows across the country with more dates expected to be announced soon, including international shows. This tour follows the release of the band’s fourth studio album “OK ORCHESTRA”, which was released on March 26, 2021, and after the band’s “Everything Everywhere Tour” was cancelled. The tour was set to begin in the summer of 2020 and featured AJR, Quinn XCII, Hobo Johnson, and Ashe.
In order to bring back live music in some way, AJR scheduled “One Spectacular Night,” a livestream concert event that was broadcasted on December 26, 2020. This show was a huge success in the world of virtual shows, following shows by Machine Gun Kelly, Niall Horan, and Jon Bellion.
The band got their start by street performing in New York City Parks. Their first single “I’m Ready” (2013) allowed the band to gain traction and build a fan base, which led to the release of their first album “Living Room.” (2015) Since then, the band has released tracks like “Weak,” “Sober Up,” “100 Bad Days,” and “Bang!” which are all still on regular radio rotation.
While live music may take a while to come back in full, fans still seem to be excited for when it does. Positive responses from fan bases have allowed other artists like Machine Gun Kelly, Bad Bunny, and The Weeknd to also announce tours for the upcoming months with full confidence that attendance will be maxed out at whatever guidelines the venues decide to set for each date depending on COVID-19 guidelines.
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