Sammy Hagar was one of 14 performers asked by Rolling Stone how they’re dealing with not being able to do concerts during the pandemic. His answer:
I’d rather personally get sick and even die, if that’s what it takes. I would rather see everyone go back to work. If some of us have to sacrifice on that, OK. I will die for my children and my grandchildren to have a life anywhere close to the life that I had in this wonderful country. That’s just the way that I feel about it. I mean, how many people die on the Earth every day? I have no idea. I’m sorry to say it, but we all gotta die, man.
Unfortunately, there were no follow-up questions along the lines of, “What about all the people who have to work in whatever venue you play in, from concessions people to ticket-takers, to security guards, to ushers? Do they have to die just because a few people want to hear you singing about your inability to drive 55mph?”
I prefer John Fogerty’s answer:
I keep telling my family, if it was lions and tigers roaming out there, you could see that, so that prepares you psychologically, so you realize you don’t want to go out there and be reckless. All of this opening-up talk is pretty scary to me. I’m afraid we’ll probably end up going backwards. And I don’t want to be the guy who contributes to that. You go do a concert with 10,000 people, and then find out afterwards that some of them died? I don’t think any of us will really be ready until after we have a vaccine and people feel safe again. I’m an older person, and a lot of people my age have died. Maybe some other guy thinks it’s a good idea, but I’m not dying for Donald Trump. I’m not dying for the economy. How can you have any kind of a crowd?
By the way, I was looking forward to seeing Fogerty play The Fox here in St. Louis next month, but I’m glad he was smart enough to realize the risk involved and cancel his whole tour.