Live Entertainment experience: After a pandemic postponement, the Barefoot Country Music Festival was held Aug. 19. PHOTO CREDIT: https://barefootcountrymusicfest.com/
For the first time in almost two years, on Aug. 19, I stepped foot into the door of live entertainment. In the popular vacation town of Wildwood, New Jersey, the Barefoot Country Music Festival (BCMF) was a weekend full of country music, food trucks and crowds of people.
This festival, the largest concert in the Northeast, held major headliners such as Lee Brice, Carrie Underwood, Dan and Shay and Zac Brown Band. Before the pandemic, my family had surprised me with tickets to the weekend-long festival as a high school graduation gift. However, due to COVID-19 and the shutdown of many cities, the festival was canceled and had to be rescheduled for the summer of 2021.
As an avid country music fan, I was heartbroken to hear the news of the cancellation. The anticipation of the new date had me on my toes for months. Finally, this past summer, I was able to listen to live music and be in the presence of amazing musicians and country fans.
In preparation for BCMF, the only requirement for the festival was to purchase a clear bag and secure your BCMF wristband onto your right wrist. There were no specific instructions for vaccinations, masks or anything related to COVID-19. When registering your wristband, which had a payment plan ready to scan to prevent spectators from bringing in bags, there was a short series of questions to answer. The first asking if you were fully vaccinated, the second asking if you have had COVID-19 in the past three months and the last asking if you had a COVID-19 test in the past 48 hours before the event.
Because there were no specific instructions stating you needed to be vaccinated for the event or have proof of a COVID-19 test leading up to the festival, there were thousands of country fans at the event. According to the BCMF box office, over the course of the weekend, over 30,000 people were standing in the sand listening to the performers.
“My initial thoughts were ‘what was I thinking attending a super-spreader concert?’” said Denise Miller, a country music listener. “Not only in the middle of a pandemic, but during a time when COVID-19 was rapidly increasing due to the delta variant.”
In a large group of friends and family, Miller was not alone in feeling anxious about attending the event. However, after facing COVID-19 herself and receiving the vaccine, she felt more confident attending the event.
“I did try to take every precaution I could, even though it was hard,” said Miller. “I had a really awesome time and I am glad I did go and put trust into the science of the vaccine.”
BCMF, whose lineup also included Jon Pardi, Chris Lane, LANCO, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimmie Allen and more, was such a huge hit that the 2022 festival is already in the works.
It felt extremely freeing being able to dance and sing to many of the artists I have spent listening and watching through a screen. Especially my favorite country artist, Zac Brown Band. The band’s performance wrapped up the unbelievable weekend bringing more spectators to already request their favorite performers for next year’s country festival.
“The performers in the lineup were some of the best in country music,” said Breanna Williamson, a local visitor in Wildwood. “I would love to see Thomas Rhett, Florida Georgia Line or Morgan Wallen next year.”
Seeing live music for the first time since the pandemic was eye-opening not only for myself but for the artists on stage. Each performer, more than once, took a second to look around and take in the view of thousands of fans in front of them. What a view it must have been to finally see faces in the crowd instead of masks.
Carrie Underwood dedicated a song to everyone in the audience and began to cry while explaining it had been so long since she has performed for a live audience. It was such a powerful moment knowing that even well-known artists have been impacted by the pandemic in many different ways.
The Barefoot Country Music Fest was a step towards normalcy as spectators were walking around without masks, seeing performers on stage for the first time in months and being able to enjoy country music outside on the beaches of Wildwood, New Jersey.