Seattle music venues get ready to rock again, with a few guidelines By Michael Rietmulder, The Seattle Times Published: June 13, 2021, 8:00am Share: SEATTLE — Since the early days of the pandemic, back when we were quarantining our mail and wearing latex gloves to the grocery store, Seattle venue operators have warned that when concerts were allowed to resume, reopening clubs would not be as simple as turning on the lights. With less than a month before Gov. Jay Inslee’s statewide June 30 reopening date, music venue operators are working furiously behind the scenes to prepare — rehiring staff, booking and confirming shows and weighing health and safety protocols coming out of the pandemic. Coming less than two weeks after hints of a possible rollback, Inslee’s May 13 reopening announcement caught some venue operators by surprise — “like a bit of whiplash,” as Seattle Theatre Group’s Nate Dwyer described it — and in some cases, fast-forwarded their reopening plans.