Fozzy Played a “Socially Distanced” Show in North Dakota

North Dakota, which last month hosted a concert by Great White to much criticism, again finds itself in the news for allowing live music events to take place.

Fozzy, the hard rock act led by pro wrestler Chris Jericho, played a show last night (Saturday, August 8) at The Original in Minot, ND, an indoors venue. The band played outdoors earlier in the week in Iowa and South Dakota, and plan to perform at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally tonight.

Various health precautions were taken by the venue, including limiting capacity to 50%, handing out masks and taking patrons temperatures at the door and placing hand sanitizer stations throughout the room. A photo of the show (above) suggests many fans were not following social distancing guidelines.

Jericho defended the band’s decision to play these shows, which were part of the their rescheduled spring tour, citing the safety precautions being taken and the low incidence of Covid-19 in the area. During a livestream yesterday, he said:

“The reason why the shows have happened is because these states of North Dakota and South Dakota have low COVID cases, less than 1000 in both states, I think Florida had 9000 today alone”. North Dakota has been reporting a daily case load between low 100s, however there has been a spike in recent days, with 181 new cases reported yesterday. South Dakota is averaging 100 cases a day, so relatively low.”

North Dakota has had 7,512 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and has logged 116 deaths. The number of active cases in the state has been trending up as of late.

[via Metal Injection]