11 March 2022
On the plus side, the Great Reopening (it's real this time, we promise ... Even if it's impossible to know for sure) means that we can start doing fun stuff again. Concerts, festivals, theatrical productions, early modern history lectures ... All of these social events are now possible to contemplate and even attend now. Given that it's the Hell season of the academic year, I am not planning to do much of this in the immediate future. I've got too much class prep, marking and e-mailing to do for the next month.
But soon enough, the snow will have melted, the sidewalks will be swept clean, and the city will come alive again. I'm already preparing by looking out for concert tickets. Rufus Wainwright returns to Montreal in May and we're already booked for that homecoming event. And Kraftwerk will be performing their 3-D concert in June, nearly two years after they were originally scheduled to go out on tour. Dua Lipa will be performing twice in Montreal this summer, once in her own show at the Bell Centre and again as a headliner for the Osheaga festival.
I still have the princely sum of a $7 rebate from Ticketmaster as the result of a class action suit, but that discount hardly compensates for the still inflated prices of the tickets they have for sale. None of their Kraftwerk tix were under $200, whereas you can get them for $75 directly from Place des Arts. I'm not sure if there's a cheaper option for Dua Lipa or Osheaga, but I will exercise due diligence before purchasing anything.
It's been a long time since going out to concerts was a viable option. There was a brief moment last year when a few shows were held, but Omicron put a quick end to that. Now it seems that the shows must go on, even as the pandemic does too.
Image: Melvin Charney, One fit sizes all 6: Bodybuildings ... Guys and grids.
#montrealplaguediary
On Friday, Quebec reported 1,126 people in hospital (a decrease of 36 from the previous day), including 65 in intensive care (a decrease of three from the previous day). The province reported 1,179 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 934,622 confirmed cases, and 14,154 people have died.