It doesn't bode well for what's left of the Irish festival season

If you're a regular gig-goer who's been finding it difficult to get through this whole crisis without your usual live music fix, this news will not be welcomed.

According to one US healthcare expert, the live music sector will not return to normal until autumn 2021.

Thousands of gigs and festivals across the world have been cancelled due to the pandemic, but many have been pushed back until later in the year. According to Zeke Emanuel -  a bioethicist and professor of healthcare management - that's being optimistic.

Taking part in a roundtable discussion with The New York Times, he said that live events would be "the last to return".

"Larger gatherings – conferences, concerts, sporting events – when people say they’re going to reschedule this conference or graduation event for October 2020, I have no idea how they think that’s a plausible possibility," he said. "I think those things will be the last to return. Realistically we’re talking fall 2021 at the earliest."

The Coachella festival is one large-scale event that has been rescheduled from April to October.

A number of Irish festivals have also cancelled or postponed their 2020 editions, although the biggest ones - Longitude (July) and Electric Picnic (September) have yet to make an announcement. At the Electric Picnic launch last month, promoter Melvin Benn said: "“I’m not worried about it at all. I’m full steam ahead unless the governments here and in the UK say we can’t go ahead... I’m 100 per cent of the belief that by June we will all be over the hump and we will all have forgotten about it, quite frankly, and all you buggers will find something else to write about it."

Fans have also queried whether Forbidden Fruit, which is scheduled to take place at Dublin's Royal Hospital, Kilmainham on May 30th and 31st, has officially been cancelled. We have contacted Aiken Promotions on this matter and are awaiting a response.

In the meantime, we'd best get used to viewing concerts - like the Lady Gaga-led 'One World: Together at Home' gig this weekend - from our couches.