Smash Mouth was one of the acts performing at Sunday’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally’s Buffalo Chip concert series, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the group’s manager insists every possible safety precaution was taken at the South Dakota event.

“The promoter did a fantastic job with their [COVID-19] protocol.  They had a very strict social distancing and mask policy in place for all workers,” band manager Robert Hayes tells Billboard in an email. “Everything backstage was sanitized, etc. The band has their own Covid addendum to their rider as well and the promoter and venue adhered to all of our requests.”

However, as Forbes magazine reported, while masks were suggested, it seemed like “few people” obliged.

Smash Mouth felt safe from the stage because there were “lots” of measures put in place to make sure everything was clean and there was a safe environment for the band and crew to work in, according to Hayes, who added that while the band was in control of what happened on the performance end, they knew they couldn’t control the actions of the audience.

“That said most all of them were on their motorcycles which eliminated a lot of physical contact between attendees,” creating “a forced social distance,” he said.  “The Smash Mouth organization is taking this pandemic very seriously and has taken measures to keep our band, crew and fans as safe as possible during this time.”

Adds Hayes, “We spent endless hours advancing this event to make sure that it was pulled off as safely as possible and we are very happy with the outcome.”

The annual gathering, which typically draws upwards of half a million bikers, attracted about 250,000 guests this year — still the largest event to take place since March, reports USA Today.

By George Costantino
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