Reading & Leeds Festival Will “Almost Certainly” Require COVID Vaccine Passports
With vaccinations starting to ramp up, there’s finally some light at the end of the live-music tunnel. While Glastonbury has already been called off, the UK’s twin Reading and Leeds festivals are full speed ahead for August — and they will likely have some sort of COVID vaccine passport system in place, NME reports.
“I’m taking the prime minister at his word that from June the legal restrictions will be off. And as he and the culture secretary said: ‘We are looking forward to a summer of fun,’” Reading and Leeds organizer Melvin Benn told the BBC today. “If it is cancelled everyone gets a refund — that’s pretty normal — but I’m certainly anticipating it going ahead.”
Benn says that the festivals, which are already sold out, will have a dedicated COVID medical director and team on site and be bound by the same coronavirus safety protocols as bars and restaurants. And according to Benn, attendees will “almost certainly” need to prove that they have been vaccinated using a digital health passport before being admitted.
Digital health passports are being tested as a potential way to resume live events safely; New York State just officially launched its Excelsior Pass platform this week. Reading and Leeds will take place August 27-29 with Stormzy, Post Malone, and Liam Gallagher headlining. Ian Brown almost certainly won’t be there.