The Capitol City’s annual Austin City Limits Music Festival will require attendees to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for entry, organizers announced Thursday.
If festival-goers cannot provide proof of vaccination, they must offer a printed copy of a negative COVID-19 test result obtained within 72 hours before attending the festival.
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A person is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Festival organizers added that the COVID-19 vaccination is not required to attend the festival.
Festival organizers announced the new safety requirements about six weeks before the first weekend of the annual event is slated to kick of at Zilker Park in October. Each year, the festival is held on two consecutive three-day weekends and draws tens of thousands of music fans to downtown Austin. This year ACL Festival weekend one will take place Oct. 1-3 and weekend two will take place Oct. 8-10. Last year, amid the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, live festivities were canceled and a truncated, virtual version of the event was streamed online.
Organizers have not yet released any guidance on face masks, stating they would provide information on mask protocols before weekend one of the festival begins.
A printed copy of a negative COVID-19 test result will be required to attend ACL Festival 2021. The negative COVID-19 printed test result must be obtained within 72 hours (3 days) of attending ACL Festival. pic.twitter.com/nImWKZORY0
— ACL Festival (@aclfestival) August 19, 2021
The return of live events in Texas has been complicated in recent weeks by a surge in COVID-19 cases. Just last week, Stevie Nicks, who was scheduled to perform at Austin City Limits Festival as one of its headliners, announced she would not perform at the festival or at other events in 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns.
“These are challenging times with challenging decisions that have to be made. I want everyone to be safe and healthy and the rising Covid cases should be of concern to all of us,” the 73-year-old singer said in a statement on social media. “While I’m vaccinated, at my age, I am still being extremely cautious and for that reason have decided to skip the 5 performances I had planned for 2021.”
Also last week, musician Jason Isbell’s show at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion in The Woodlands was canceled due to matters involving COVID-19 safety measures Isbell insisted on, which included proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for entry into the venue.
For more information on the Austin City Limits Festival, visit aclfestival.com.
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