An announcement Thursday by the Quebec government jeopardizes just about all music events in the province.
Premier François Legault called on people “not to go to a show.” He called for a ban on indoor events with more than 250 people as well as all non-essential large gatherings for the next 30 days.
"We need to delay the contagion,” he said. “The next two weeks will be critical. There are currently 13 confirmed cases in Quebec.
Montreal’s biggest concert venue, the Bell Centre, has no music acts booked until Elton John on April 2 and 3. In Quebec City, there are no concerts scheduled at Videotron Centre until Lara Fabien on April 4.
Smaller music venues will be hit hard. Montreal’s L’Olympia and MTELUS – set to host shows by Keane and Alan Doyle before the end of the month – have capacities of 1,996 and 2,300 respectively.
At the now somewhat awkwardly-named Corona Theatre, which can accommodate a little under 1,000, Dweezil Zappa and Matthew Good have shows scheduled next week.
evenko, which promotes most music shows in Quebec, said in a statement "the company understands and respects the government's decision to take the necessary steps to control the risk of the virus spreading.
"Specific information for each event will be communicated as soon as possible. In the meantime, ticket holders are invited to keep their tickets for future events."