PEORIA, Ill. — Things may be slowly progressing back to where they were pre-COVID, but “slowly” is the operative, as was evidenced Wednesday night.
For the second time, comedian Bert Kreischer’s show at Peoria Civic Center was postponed.
Kreischer was originally supposed to perform March 27. Then, when the pandemic began, his show was pushed back to June 11.
The new date is nearly a year to the date of the originally-scheduled performance: March 25, 2021.
Kreischer isn’t the first scheduled Civic Center act to be rescheduled to 2021. In fact, 2020 shows being pushed back to 2021 has become a trend.
Reba McEntire was originally scheduled to perform May 8 of 2020.
That date was changed to August 7, 2020, and has since been changed to Aug. 12, 2021.
One Night of Queen was scheduled for March 29, 2020, then July 12, 2020.
That show is now set for Apr. 8, 2021.
The “Maks & Val” show set for June 27, 2020 was moved to June 19, 2021.
Apr. 29 was supposed to be the date Riverdance brought its 25th anniversary show to Peoria, but that show will be 25 with an asterisk, as it has been rescheduled for May 25, 2021.
It remained to be seen what will happen to other 2020 shows that still had not, as of Wednesday night, been moved to 2021.
Acts like Foreigner, Travis Tritt, Air Supply, Cole Swindell, and TobyMac were all still scheduled to perform on their 2020 makeup dates.
The Restore Illinois plan says conventions, festivals, and large events will not be permitted until phase five is reached.
Phase five cannot be reached under the current plan until a vaccine or “highly effective treatment” becomes widely available.