Entertainment venues across New Jersey are getting ready to welcome back a full-capacity crowd – something they haven’t done in 15 months.

The Stone Pony in Asbury Park is setting up the Southside Beer Garden next to the famed rock club.

New Jersey’s The Nerds will play the venue’s first public concert since the pandemic began on Saturday. But indoor shows may not be back for a while.

“We’re going to concentrate on the South Side Beer Garden until we do our Summer Stage. But it’s going to take months to really kind of put things back together,” says general manager Caroline O’Toole.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center is gradually returning to indoor shows next month with comedy performances. But those shows will still be socially distanced for now.

“You're going to see a pretty busy schedule at NJPAC because it's not just what we're booking now but there are shows from pre-pandemic that we have rescheduled twice,” says NJPAC executive producer David Rodriguez.

The state of New Jersey is lifting indoor capacity limits and social distancing for venues on June 4. It remains to be seen how ready the audience is to return. Officials say that it will take some time for many shuttered venues to book a full schedule of artists on the stage.