Vanilla Ice announces July 4 concert in COVID-19 hotspot

Vanilla Ice has announced plans for a Fourth of July celebrating concert (taking place on July 3) at a venue in Austin, Texas, at the weekend.

This doesn’t seem wise, as Texas is currently in the midst of a COVID-19 spike. A record daily high of 8,076 cases was recently announced, an forecasts from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) predict nearly 2,000 new hospitalisations per day by mid-July.

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Tickets for the gig at Emerald Point Bar & Grill being billed as an “Independence Day Throwback Party” cost between $25 to $300.

The Texas Tribune reports that the capacity has been set at 450 people and as of Wednesday night 84 tickets had been sold. The eventbrite listing notes “We will be doing temperature checks at the door. Masks will be required to attend.”

In a recent nostalgic Instagram post showing concert footage, the Texan rapper wrote: “I can’t wait to get back to this. The 90s were the best. We didn’t have coronavirus, or cell phones, or computers. … We danced, we invented house parties in the 90s. The last of the great decades #IMissThenineties”.