vanilla ice throwback beach

Vanilla Ice putting on a big concert in Austin this weekend as city mulls new COVID-19 shutdown

UPDATE: Taking his own advice, Ice stopped, collaborated and listened…and canceled the show.

Texas saw an increase of 8,029 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which was a second consecutive single-day record, and Austin’s mayor Steve Adler closed the city’s bars once again and is currently considering putting the city back on shutdown. Which is a perfect time for Vanilla Ice to announce that he’s throwing a party in Austin this Friday (7/3), the “Independence Day Throwback Beach Party.”

“I can’t wait to get back to this,” Ice wrote on Instagram, sharing footage of a packed show from days of yore. “The 90s were the best. We didn’t have coronavirus, or cell phones, or computers.” (He’s right about two of those things the ’90s didn’t have.) “We had 5.0‘s, blockbuster, Beavis and Butthead, Wayne’s world, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. And Mortal Kombat is still better than fortnight but we got out of the house, We danced, we invented house parties in the 90s. The last of the great decades #IMissThenineties.”

With bars and clubs shut down, how is this happening? The concert is scheduled to take place at the Emerald Bar & Grill, which is technically classified as a restaurant, as at least 51% of its sales are food, and Austin restaurants are currently allowed to remain open at 50% capacity. Like a lot of Austin places, it has a huge outdoor stage area that can normally hold around 5000 people.

Despite a lot of backlash on social media, Ice is sticking to his guns. “I take everything serious with the coronavirus. But we can’t live in a bubble,” he wrote on Instagram this morning. “We will 100% be practicing social distancing and everyone will have masks and be responsible, It’s an outside venue with plenty of room. It’s Fourth of July on the lake, with fireworks, Much better in the real world then cyber world.”

If Austin does indeed end up shutting back down, Ice can take some solace in knowing the 2020s will also have Beavis and Butt-Head.

Related: multiple country singers have received criticism after performing last weekend to crowds of people with no social distancing or masks.

https://twitter.com/vanillaice/status/1277673099085914113