ABSTRACT
Music festivals were experiencing steady growth in Europe before the onset of the pandemic. These complex events then had to adapt to the regulations imposed on them, which led to transformations in the ways they offered concerts, such as live online streaming, incorporation of social distancing, and even cancellation or reorganisation. This chapter focuses on the approaches taken by two music festival case study examples in 2020. Data were collected, firstly, from the Bachfest classical music festival in Leipzig and, secondly, from the BAM multi-genre music festival in Barcelona. The analysis was conducted from the perspective of three festival stakeholders: organisers, performers, and the audience. This threefold analysis revealed the new methods festival organisers developed to engage audiences, how the music experience was used as a coping strategy against the desperation of the performers and participants, and that non-cancellation became a symbol of cultural resistance in times of uncertainty.
