As restrictions for the COVID-19 pandemic loosen up and vaccination rates increase, many artists are releasing new concert schedules, some starting as early as July 2021. Not only does it seem that concerts could be making their comeback, but movie theatres have also been opening up lately for showings of the latest box office hits. 

T-Mobile Park will start hosting concerts that were rescheduled from last year in September. Their schedule starts with the Hella Mega Tour concert of Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer Sept. 6. The other concert T-Mobile Park has scheduled right now is for August 2022 with Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Poison as well as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. 

WaMu theater has shows lined up starting in July. Most of the shows through the summer at WaMu are rescheduled dates from cancelled shows over the past year due to COVID-19. For 2022 though, WaMu has scheduled the Glass Animals March 11 and Alicia Keys Aug. 28. 

While Seattle University’s nearby music venue Neumos still remains closed for shows, they hope to reopen soon. Neumos has started announcing shows for September, but does not expect to host anything in the summer months due to COVID-19 safety concerns. 

Talent buyer for Neumos, Evan Johnson, shared his excitement about being able to reopen again. 

“It’s hard to pick just one thing I’m looking forward to with the reopening because we’ve been deprived of our entire livelihood during this shutdown,” Johnson said. “If I had to pick just one thing, I’d have to say the people, whether that’s Neumos staff, the artists who perform, and the patrons who come to shows.”

While closed, Neumos continued to remain optimistic about reopening. They continued to actively book shows for dates they estimated they would be able to reopen in time for. While those shows were ultimately cancelled or rescheduled, Neumos continued to be hopeful for a return in the near future.

Second-year business analytics student, Jay Grant, looks forward to the day he can attend a concert again. While he is cautious of how venues will reopen safely, Grant remains hopeful as more people get vaccinated. 

“I definitely think that if concerts or festivals ensure that you provide documentation of vaccination I will feel a lot safer during concerts,” Grant said. “ It will feel weird being in such a large group of people and I am curious what rules they will implement to ensure that everyone is safe, but ensuring that people are vaccinated will help make me feel safe during the concert.”

While both nearby theatres The Siff and Central Cinema remain closed for movies , The Regal did open.

The Regal currently has standard showing times for “A Quiet Place Part II” and “Cruella” as well as one showing a day of various new and old movies like the “Conjuring” or “Fast and Furious 6.” They also have pre-order tickets available to purchase for future dates.

Central Cinema plans to fully reopen  July 30 if everything goes according to plan with safety precautions for COVID-19. While they have been closed to the public for open theatres, they have allowed people to privately reserve the theatre for viewings up to 50 people. 

Second-year Political Science student, Emily Harris, has been watching movies throughout quarantine, attempting to stay on top of the newest releases. 

“I am very excited to be able to have the experience inside a movie theatre again,” Harris said. “I have been watching a lot of movies at home, but I definitely think it will be refreshing and exciting to go see something in theatres again.”

As concerts and movies are slowly coming back for viewing, students are excited to be able to attend again. Whether it is seeing their favorite artist live again or simply hanging out with friends eating popcorn, Seattle U students will be attending events as soon as possible.