Robert Matthew Van Winkle, best known by his stage name Vanilla Ice, is scheduled to perform at the Emerald Point Bar & Grill in Austin, Texas on Friday, according to a social media post from the venue.
The concert, dubbed “Independence Day Throwback Beach Party,” will celebrate the Fourth of July holiday on an outdoor stage.
This event arrives amid the surge in COVID-19 cases across Texas. According to The Texas Tribune, the number of COVID-19 cases has nearly quadrupled since Memorial Day. As of Wednesday, the state reported 8,000 new cases and 21 additional deaths. 2,481 people in Texas have died from COVID-19, with 168,062 Texans testing positive. There were 3,000 hospitalized in the Houston region, with 800 in intensive care.
“We are looking forward to a fun and safe weekend with good friends, good food, and good music while celebrating America,” the venue wrote on Instagram.
Tickets on eventbrite range from $25-$300. Hip Hop Hooray and Myke Miller will also be performing on the same evening as Vanilla Ice.
Earlier this week, the rapper posted a photo of a packed concert venue on Instagram earlier with the caption, “I can’t wait to get back to this. The 90s were the best.”
He continued, “We didn’t have coronavirus, or cell phones, or computers. 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.”
Update: On July 2, Vanilla Ice announced an update that the concert would be postponed. “Due to the increase in COVID-19 numbers in Austin we’re gonna move the concert to a better date,” he tweeted. “We were hoping for better Coronavirus numbers by July but Unfortunately the numbers have increased quite a bit so for the safety and health of everyone we’re going to stay home.”
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
