Glasgow's SSE Hydro could remain closed until next year.
Bosses have warned that the major Scots venue would struggle to operate with social distancing and pleaded with politicians to give 'test events' the go-ahead.
Named last year as the second busiest arena in the world, the £125million space faces huge uncertainty due to a drop in ticket sales and the costs of increased hygiene measures.
Bosses have said it may be mid to late 2021 until the 14,300 capacity venue could be full again.
And the usual atmosphere that music lovers are used to could be diminished in the wake of coronavirus.
Peter Duthie, chief executive of the Scottish Event Campus, said: "Mass gatherings are not permitted at the moment, but even when they are, if social distancing is still in place it will be very difficult for any event to operate at all.
"It's very difficult to see how we can put on a full-event event at the Hydro before the middle through to the end of next year.
"If everything goes our way it may be possible to do things earlier but in terms of events looking like they did before it's difficult at the moment to see anything happening before then.
"Anything which requires people to get together to create an atmosphere will be a huge challenge.
"We'd never say never. We're going through a process of looking at what social distancing means for capacity and viability and working with promoters to try to find a way through it.
"We're looking at what mitigation measures could be put in place to 'de-risk' the staging of events.
"Part of that is about giving the customer confidence that they can come to an event safely.
"We are looking at how we can get to a position on how we can deliver events safely in the new world and give people an experience that they will want.
"We're trying to persuade the government to allow us to do some test events as part of the journey back to normality to show what can be done.
"The industry is highly-professional world-class, which is why we need to protect it.
"But when you put all the different factors together, such as the extra costs and reduced revenues, it all becomes very challenging financially."
Paul Bush, director of events at VisitScotland, added: "There is an absolute realisation in the industry that before we get back to whatever normality is they've got to get it right.
"Promoters want to get back, but they don't want to rush back.
"I don't think we will see any big music events happening this year."
