As the Covid-19 Omicron variant continues to spread, particularly in New York, Brooklyn Steel has canceled the remaining three dates of LCD Soundsystem’s “You Are Here” 20-night residency at the venue: tonight (Sunday) through Tuesday.
A statement from the venue reads, “LCD Soundsystem’s shows at Brooklyn Steel on December 19, 20 and 21 have been cancelled. All tickets purchased via AXS will be automatically refunded – there is no action required if you purchased your tickets via AXS online or by phone.” The message makes no reference to the Omicron surge, but the reasoning seems clear.
While several other area concerts have been postponed in the wake of the surge, few New York venues have categorically postponed or canceled upcoming dates on their calendars, and at the time of this article’s publication, tickets for many dates scheduled for the coming week and beyond remain on sale. Concerts are traditionally slow in the days surrounding Christmas, although many dates are on the docket for New York’s venues, particularly New Year’s Eve.
However, the postponement or cancelation of multiple Broadway shows, Radio City Music Hall’s Rockettes performances and Charli XCX’s musical performance on “Saturday Night Live” have made the situation in New York more urgent. In a statement, the National Independent Venue Association (which is not affiliated with Brooklyn Steel), said: “This underscores our concerted effort to spread the word to get everybody vaccinated. Clearly vaccinations are our ticket out of this. Of course everyone reads all the data and it is extremely helpful to see that if you have been vaccinated fully, it is keeping people safer and people are avoiding serious disease or worse.”
LCD Soundsystem’s shows at Brooklyn Steel on December 19, 20 and 21 have been cancelled. All tickets purchased via AXS will be automatically refunded – there is no action required if you purchased your tickets via AXS online or by phone. pic.twitter/gvQcTmKFYn
— Brooklyn Steel (@brooklynsteel) December 19, 2021
Around 90 minutes after Brooklyn Steel canceled the shows, the band responded on social media. “You all have spoken, The last three shows are cancelled,” the post reads in part. “We certainly had enough cancellations to make the vote count, but we also, now with all the new info, want to stop for our own sakes.”
pic.twitter/eRphZUiqw3
— lcdsoundsystem (@lcdsoundsystem) December 19, 2021
On Friday, the band had posted a long statement saying it would complete the residency in the face of the surge, although by Sunday local circumstances have made that unfeasible.
“We’ve all known that there are risks playing these shows,” the message reads in part. “When we planned them, we thought we’d be in better shape, covid wise, by now, but it didn’t pan out so. We’ve been in a bubble together for months, our families, our crew. But we play in a room of thousands every night, so we know there are risks. We know that we and our team (and the team at Brooklyn Steel), in many ways, face the most risk of getting sick, just by virtue of being at everyone of our 20 shows.
“But we said we would play, and people are coming, so we are playing. But let’s be very, very clear — we are not saying by playing that we think it’s not a place you can catch covid or anything else, really…
“You need to make your own decision as to whether you feel safe coming to see us. if you don’t, you can go to axs to get your money back. you’ll be first in line for tickets the next time we play in nyc. we won’t hold your money, or reschedule… you just get first crack next time there’s a gig here.”
