GREAT WHITE Plays Concert In North Dakota With No Restrictions In Place: No Social Distancing, No Masks (Video)

Blabbermouth ^ | July 11, 2020 | N/A

[DoodleBob]

GREAT WHITE played an outdoor show this past Thursday night (July 9) in Dickinson, North Dakota as part of "First On First: Dickinson Summer Nights". Video footage of the concert is available below. More video, shot from a different location, can be found here.

While numerous events have been imposing restrictions, such as wearing masks and social distancing, "First On First" has no such rules in place.

"We do not have restrictions, believe it or not, we don't have any," April Getz, an event coordinator for Odd Fellows, which organizes, runs and comes up with the funding for the events, told The Dickinson Press. "It's one of those things where if people feel comfortable coming down and mixing and mingling, that's their personal choice. We're leaving it up to everybody that chooses to attend."

As of Saturday (July 11), there have been a total of 4,243 confirmed coronavirus cases in North Dakota. A total of 87 people have died so far in the state as a result of COVID-19. 83 percent of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 in North Dakota to date have recovered from the virus.

An average of around 3,700 tests are being conducted daily in North Dakota, where the positivity rate has remained relatively low. 4,327 tests were conducted Friday, yielding a 2% positivity rate.

North Dakota's pandemic-high number of active cases came May 21, when 670 residents were infected.

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of concerts and festivals have either been postponed or canceled, as social distancing and self-quarantining make performing live music and attending live shows all but impossible.

[DoodleBob]

Great White got so much abuse for doing this gig, that they issued a subsequent press release that was (IMHO, incorrectly) called an apology:

“We understand that there are some people who are upset that we performed this show, during this trying time. We assure you that we worked with the Promoter. North Dakota’s government recommends masks be worn, however, we are not in a position to enforce the laws.

We have had the luxury of hindsight and we would like to apologize to those who disagree with our decision to fulfill our contractual agreement.

The Promoter and staff were nothing but professional and assured us of the safety precautions.

Our intent was simply to perform our gig, outside, in a welcoming, small town.

We value the health and safety of each and every one of our fans, as well as our American and global community.

We are far from perfect.”

They're not my cup of tea, but bravo for getting out there and working again, and supporting not just fans but roadies and other crew members.

[Libloather]

My Sammy Hagar/Whitesnake/Night Ranger concert was cancelled. Kinda ticked off about it..

[Levy78]

Didn’t like 70 people die in a fire at one of their concerts maybe 10-15 years ago??

[TigersEye]

Were their fans forced to attend at gunpoint?

Oh, I forgot, we’re not a free country anymore we’re a Karen country.

[shelterguy]

Exactly. If you don’t want to go then stay in the bunker.

And they should not call it a concert. They should call it a peaceful protest because the KungFlu cannot spread at a peaceful protest.

[DoodleBob]

Yes, at The Station in RI; killing 100 people including Great White guitarist Ty Longley and injuring 230.

[dainbramaged]

The Station nightclub fire occurred on Thursday, February 20, 2003, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, killing 100 people including Great White guitarist Ty Longley and injuring 230.

[euram]

with a name like that, they have to be Racists and White Supremacists.

[DoodleBob]

Brad Gillis is active on LinkedIn - he was really peeved about the cancellation. Brad has other irons in the fire so he is probably ok. But for most musicians between bar bands (who can still find gigs) and mega groups (who are well-off), this pandemic has been financially devastating.

[DoodleBob]

[antidemoncrat]

I sure the Lame Street Media will say, much like they did for the BLM protest, very few if any COVID-199 cases reported from this event but for Trumps Mt. Rushmore show ....hundreds of cases.

[familyop]

It doesn’t matter. There are very few cases in North Dakota.

[plain talk]

Sure. Why not? It’s not like Great White is known as a bastion of safety consciousness anyway.

“Come to our paaaarty. We promise you won’t get burned alive or suffocated. We promise.”

[Sasparilla]

Plenty of fire extinguishers on hand I assume

[Fiji Hill]

Interesting that a group with a name like Great White exists in this age of Black Lives Matter. Perhaps they’ll change their name, like the Dixie Chicks and Lady Antebellum did.

[Libloather]

Great W?

[CincyRichieRich]

👍 Great, but I have no idea who they are.

[matt04]

Yes. Station Nightclub in RI. They used illegal pyro, in a club that used illegal sound proofing in a illegal remodel to avoiding installing sprinklers.

[Levy78]

Damn didn’t know it was that preventable. Sad.

I don’t see how a band can get on stage and do their thing after that. Seems like a good time to hang it up.

[Steely Tom]

Kind of a hair band from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. They got one video on MTV, not long before MTV stopped being a music video station.

Their main claim to fame unfortunately is that they used stage pyrotechnics in a small venue in Warwick RI back in 2003; the resulting fire killed about 100 kids and injured more than twice that number.