Made in America festival will require vaccines, not just masks

This year’s Made in America festival on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia will require concertgoers to show either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from the previous 48 hours, the CEO of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation said Wednesday.

In addition, all patrons will be required to wear masks inside the festival grounds when they’re not eating or drinking, in keeping with the City of Philadelphia’s new mask mandate for non-seated events outdoors with more than 1,000 people.

CEO Desiree Perez said ticket holders without the required vaccinations or negative COVID-19 test will be able to take a rapid test for COVID-19 antibodies at the gate of the Labor Day weekend festival, scheduled for Sept. 4 and 5. Anyone without one of those three qualifications will be barred from entry and have their ticket refunded.

Perez said that the event, which will be headlined by Justin Bieber and Lil Baby, is selling tickets faster than ever: “We’re trending towards 60,000 people” per day.

Roc Nation is working with city officials to expand the site to allow room for testing outside the gates, she said. The festival will also be introducing an app in the coming weeks where concertgoers can upload their vaccination status in advance.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, scheduled for October, was cancelled this week, and Perez stopped short of guaranteeing that Made in America would go on.

“Anything can happen. We all learned that the hard way in March last year,” she said. “I would say I’m confident right now. As long as Philadelphia is open and moving forward, we will be open.”