The first couple COVID-19 vaccines have been approved for use, but doses remain scarce for now. The rollout is proceeding more slowly than most of us would prefer. It feels like we’re going to be stuck in pandemic limbo forever. So when will it be safe to get together for large concerts and festivals again? A lot of promoters are betting on autumn. That would certainly square with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s projection that even indoor concerts can return this fall.

Bonnaroo, normally a June event, is scheduled for Labor Day weekend. Also on tap for fall are Riot Fest, Aftershock, and Governors Ball. And it looks like you can add Chicago’s Pitchfork Music Festival to that list.

As the Chicago Tribune reports, the festival’s founding director Michael Reed submitted a permit application to the Chicago Park District on Jan. 12, seeking permission to host the fest — normally a July event — on Sept. 10-12 in the usual location of Union Park. According to the permit application, Pitchfork reportedly expects to feature 200 performers and host a full-capacity crowd of 19,000 people per day. The company has not announced any plans for a 2021 festival as of yet. Last year’s lineup featured headliners Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Run The Jewels, and the National, but the event was cancelled due to coronavirus like most of the rest of the 2020 live music calendar. We’ve reached out to Pitchfork Music Festival for further information on this year’s plans and will update if we hear back.

In the meantime, what do we think: Will large communal gatherings be safe by September? What about in August, when Outside Lands is scheduled to happen in San Francisco? What about in July, when Green Day, Weezer, and Fall Out Boy’s Hella Mega Tour is supposed to launch at a baseball stadium in Seattle? What about June, when Primavera Sound is supposed to go down in Barcelona? It feels like a dream, but let’s hope some of this can really come to pass and we can get back to that concert life without fear of contracting a deadly virus.