What will music festivals look like in the wake of the pandemic? We'll start to find out this summer.

Summer music festivals will happen in Japan this year, even if they look nothing like they did just two years ago.

“We have lots of rules this year,” Creativeman President Naoki Shimizu tells The Japan Times about his production company’s Supersonic gathering, a post-Olympics version of its trademark Summer Sonic event held simultaneously in Chiba and Osaka prefectures. “We will have to check everyone’s temperature, first. Capacity will be limited. And alcohol ... we probably can’t have alcohol at the festival.”

Supersonic won't be the only party to lengthen its list of prohibitions. Fuji Rock Festival, for example, plans to curb cheering at its summer event. Hit hard over the past year by the COVID-19 pandemic, Shimizu says requirements like these are necessary if the live music industry is ever going to stage a comeback.