29 July, 2021 â By Michael White The Royal Albert Hall âWEâVE got as many Plan Bs as will fit into our heads,â the director of the Proms, David Pickard, told me last week. And he probably wasnât exaggerating. When the worldâs greatest music festival opens this Friday July 29, it will be welcomed with open arms as a return to normality after last yearâs ghost season â running for six weeks, with 61 concerts, real live audiences, and a proper Last Night on September 11. But, as Pickard admits, âitâs a fluid situation with a lot that could go wrong: the likelihood of artists being pinged and forced to isolate is bound to trip us up, so we live from day to day and keep our options open â which is why there are still gaps in the programme that weâll fill in due courseâ.