Travis Tritt has been an outspoken opponent of vaccine requirements and mandates.
After Live Nation and AEG, two of the largest concert promoters and venue operators in the country, announced that they would begin requiring vaccinations to get into their venues, Tritt spoke out against the restrictions, saying that “any form of discrimination should be condemned.”
And last month, he announced that he would not play any venues where proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test were required for entry.
Staying true to his word, Tritt has canceled several shows at venues with these requirements in place.
But when you look at the new tour Tritt recently announced, one venue on the schedule, The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, is still requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test.
So is Travis already breaking his word?
Well if you follow Travis, I think you know the answer to that: No way.
Turns out the Birchmere is actually waiving their vaccine requirement for Travis’ two-night run of shows on January 17 & 18, 2022.
In a tweet, the Birchmere said that “per Artist’s request, Vaccine proof will not be required for these specific shows only.”
According to The Washingtonian, the venue owner Gary Oelze said he’s not getting political or taking a side – he’s just trying to stay in business:
“I can’t get political or take a side here. I’m trying to stay in business.
Believe me, the clubs are having a rough time doing that.”
While we’ve heard of venues implementing vaccine/negative test requirements in response to artist requests, to my knowledge this is the first we’ve seen of venues that are actually waiving their own requirements in response to artists refusing to play at venues with the mandates.
In light of the Birchmere dropping their vaccine requirement for Tritt, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul took to Twitter to congratulate Tritt for “standing up to the man.”
As COVID numbers decrease and vaccinations go up, we’ve seen venues start to relax their existing vaccine requirements, with places like Bridgestone Arena in Nashville announcing this week that they would be ending the requirement on November 13.
And Tritt said that he fully expects more venues to drop their vaccine requirements in the near future.
