Experts Reckon ‘Pig Pens’ Might Be The Future Of Festival Mosh Pits, So Oink Oink Bitches
According to some scientists, they're the only way to properly implement social distancing.
One thing is very clear — whenever music festivals come back, they won’t be the kind of events we’ve grown used to.
After all, until we get a workable coronavirus vaccine, music festivals will always be high-risk. Sure, they’re held outdoors, but even in the Before Times, festivals were never the most sanitary of hang-outs.
Think about all of those people, jammed up really close to each other, their mouths wide open, blasting one another with germs. And then try to imagine any sensible way that you can convince a bunch of revellers — most of them presumably a bit soused — to keep their distance from one another.
Well, turns out some people have managed that second part. As reported by the ABC, Dr Jamie Ranse, an emergency healthcare expert, reckons one of the most sensible ways to move forward will be with a crowd artificially separated by barriers, or “pig-pens.”
“What a music festival, a mosh pit might have looked like in the past, at this point of the pandemic we simply can’t have,” he said. “There are going to be some sorts of events that simply won’t be able to go ahead based on the way they have been conducted in the past.
“[It’s about] creating like a pen-type of environment or a pig pen…where they can still enjoy the atmosphere of a music festival.”
Such pens would enforce crowds to keep their distance from one another. And hey, if that plan seems too outlandish, consider that some venues have already put a version of this enforced distancing in place: the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney is making punters sit down at spaced-out tables, as though they’re dining in at a restaurant.
Pens would be pricey. But what other options do festival organisers have? As the ABC article also notes, there’s always the possibility of choosing locations with a lot of empty room: any concert where revellers have the ability to space out from one another will be safer than most. But that would mean festivals under-selling tickets in order to allow for the space. And that in turn would make most festivals financially unviable.
So nope, seems like its the pig pens that might be floating somewhere on our horizon.