The perils and privileges of being the ‘first’ to return to IRL events

We're seeing a bevy of "firsts" pop up in XP news this week, as in first [fill-in-the-blank] since the pandemic started. Here's what's been happening in the land of firsts of IRL events: The Oscars, which planned to host all of the Academy Awards nominees IRL, is also getting blowback over its plans. Several of the nominees expressed trepidation about traveling to the April 25 event as the coronavirus surges in Europe and other hot spots, and the Academy appears to be rescinding its "participate in person or not at all" mandate. Oscar "hubs" are now being set up in Paris and London so that nominees around those areas can participate. The Tribeca Film Festival announced that it would be the "first major U.S. festival to be held in person," with IRL screenings and events planned for its 12-day 20th-anniversary celebration in June. Europe had its first big concert on Saturday night as 5,000 masked rock fans, all of whom passed a same-day coronavirus screening, gathered indoors at Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi concert hall. Bonnaroo seems to be the first big name U.S. music festival to announce a 2021 lineup for September. All of these refreshing activations have us thinking...