Five-thousand music fans filled Barcelona's Palau Sant Jordi concert hall on Saturday night (March 27), with pictures of the event looking like they should have been taken pre-pandemic.
As reported by CBS News, the sold-out concert was part of a test to assess the effectiveness of same-day coronavirus screenings in preventing outbreaks of the virus at large social events.
The tightly-packed crowd enjoyed the music of the Spanish rock group Love of Lesbian, with the only rule inside the venue being that attendees had to wear high-quality face masks provided by the concert organizers.
As the rest of the nation are limited to gatherings of four or fewer people in closed spaces, those inside the concert hall were allowed to mingle freely, with special permission of Spanish health authorities.
Earlier in the day, ticket holders were able to choose between three venues in Barcelona where they could take a quick antigen test, with those who tested negative being notified via their cellphones prior to the 7:00PM show.
Hopeful attendees were also asked not to sign up if they had heart disease, cancer, or had been in contact with someone infected by Covid-19 in recent weeks.
The concert is believed to be the first commercial event with an audience of that size to be held in Europe since the pandemic put much of the world into lockdown.
Tickets for the show ranged in price from 23-28 euros ($27-33) - which included the mandatory face mask.
Attendees were only permitted to remove their face masks when eating or drinking in designated areas.
The event was supported by local authorities and by experts of Barcelona's The Fight AIDS and Infectious Diseases Foundation, which had held a similar event back in December.
However, the preliminary case study was 10-times smaller than the concert held last night, at just 500 people. Nevertheless, the smaller concert also found that the combination of same-day screening antigen tests and strict use of face masks succeeded in preventing the spread of Covid-19 in an event with no social distancing rules.
Those who attended the concert last night have agreed to inform organizers if they are diagnosed with Covid-19 in the weeks after the concert.
