James Donald Estopinal — also known as Disco Donnie — has been putting on electronic-music shows for nearly 30 years, and knows that they take a long time to put together. “You can’t start a month out,” Estopinal says. “You really have to be going full bore is going to happen in the end.” Earlier this year, when he saw how vaccinations and hospitalizations were trending, he decided that April would be the time to put on Ubbi Dubbi.
Spring is usually the beginning of the music festival season — but things are different once again this year. The giant behemoth SXSW was online-only again this month. Coachella reportedly has been moved to 2022. No word yet on whether Lollapalooza is happening at all.
Still, many festival organizers hope that the vaccine rollout will make people comfortable enough to attend large gatherings this year — in a decidedly not socially distanced sort of way.
