ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – A band caught on camera playing to a packed house at an O’Fallon, Missouri bar where few people were wearing masks says they have more concerts planned in the area.
The scene we showed you on FOX 2 Tuesday was legal St. Charles County. Leaders are asking people not to do it again, but they’re not ordering them.
Platinum Rock Legends described the video as its typical crowd. Band founder Will Lackey, aka Drake Darrington, said they have more shows coming soon.
“Individuals are responsible for the choices they make,” Lackey said. “We get calls. We’re a small business. We get a call. They say, ‘Hey, can you come put on a show?’ and that’s what we do.”
Lackey is also a singer and impersonator for his show.
“We don’t actually go out there in the crowd ourselves and run around and cough in people’s faces or anything,” he said. “We’re up there on stage performing and entertaining.”
The Saturday night crowd we revealed Tuesday was at Brewskeez in O’Fallon, Missouri.
Owner Russ Kasper told us masks are required and that his business even provides them.
“Everyone has been willing to comply,” he said. They’ve even added “tables on the dance floor to keep people distanced.”
But why doesn’t it look like that on the video? Kasper said he was surprised because he hadn’t seen a crowd even a quarter of that size in eight months.
“I don’t know that they can control the people in that environment,” Lackey said. “Once they get excited and we’re Platinum Rock Legends so, of course, they’re going to get excited.”
Kasper said Wednesday he called the St. Charles County Executive’s Office to report that their venue was caught off guard and that he wants to do the right thing. He added that Steve Ehlmann’s office recently delivered masks they give to customers.
Ehlmann reacted to FOX 2’s report saying “A picture is worth a thousand words. I am grateful to the 95 percent of restaurant and bar owners who are doing the right things. These precautions need to be adhered to at all times. It only takes one event to become an issue and for the virus to spread uncontrollably.”
Ehlmann had no comment about discussions with Brewskeez but the county executive sent his third warning letter to bars and restaurants on Nov. 19.
“We need voluntary compliance,” he said. “We need them to be responsible and we told them we would send our inspectors out there.”
Meanwhile, Platinum Rock Legends also now fighting public opinion.
“We’ve been referred to as the Billy Bob Thornton band, which is a funny one,” Lackey said. “We’ve been referred to as ‘Who wants to risk their life to see a cheesy cover band?’ That’s a good one.”
The band has shows coming up in Waterloo, Illinois and back in St. Charles County on on New Year’s Eve.
FOX 2 asked Lackey if he thought the next shows will look any different.
“If I had to bet some money—which, maybe I will—I would say it will look the same,” he said.
