After months and months with no concerts, shows being postponed, and cancellations left and right, one of the first major artists to end this concert drought is Harry Styles, as he starts the U.S. leg of his tour titled, “Love on Tour.” 

The tour kicked off in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sept. 4 and given there are no abrupt changes due to the progression of the Delta variant, the tour is scheduled to conclude its 40 stop run of the U.S. leg on Nov. 20 in Los Angeles. The tour was originally only 37 stops, but with the reschedule due to the pandemic, Styles added three new dates in cities: Nashville, Uncasville Connecticut, and Milwaukee. 

The excitement fans in the United States have to finally see Styles live cannot be said for fans outside of the country, all dates that were once scheduled outside of the U.S. are currently still up in the air due to the countries’ restrictions or COVID-19 status. 

The concern for many is exactly how will the safety and health of all attendees be handled, especially with the new rise of COVID-19 cases. To even attend a show, there is a mask requirement and proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, which has to have been done, at the most, 48 hours before the concert. With all these safety precautions, it doesn’t completely eliminate the risk due the ease of faking vaccination cards or false negatives.

Styles starts his shows with a prerecorded message reminding fans to do their part by wearing a mask and getting vaccinated in hopes they can continue to gather and enjoy live music after everything that has happened in the past two years. 

He is not the only artist to enforce such requirements, other artists like Phoebe Bridgers and Maroon 5 are following the same guidelines as Styles. While others like BTS, have scrapped their tours altogether waiting for when it can be completely safe to tour again. 

The sudden rise of the Delta variant may end up causing a hiccup in the music entertainment industry, but only time will tell as many artists continue to cancel or continue to tour in all parts of the world.