Pop! Goes the Music

Gigs from Home: 6 Musicians You Can Watch Live During Coronavirus Quarantine

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Tours all over the world have been cancelled in the past few days, rescheduled for most, but live music lives on through… live streaming. Quarantined, many musicians have taken it to social media and started offering mini concerts from their homes. Here is a selection of a few of them you can watch this week.

TESSA VIOLET / live on YouTube

In the midst of an avalanche of concert cancellations, Chicago-born singer-songwriter Tessa Violet decided to announce a tour… in her bedroom. Official poster, specific dates (mostly Thursdays and Sundays), the Something to Look Forward to Tour started March 13th and will continue on until March 29th. Violet gets dressed up for each show and enjoys counting down with fans on Twitter and Instagram until the start of her live stream on YouTube, recreating the excitement of attending a real gig. At her show, expect nothing but spontaneity and coziness, a dance break, and a lot of fan interaction. It feels like video chatting with a friend, who also happens to be a musician.

Tessa Violet’s next video stream will take place on March 19th, at 2:00 am GMT (7:00 pm PST). Past shows are available to (re)watch here.



ONEREPUBLIC / live on Instagram

After being exposed to people who tested positive to Covid-19, OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder has been in quarantine with fellow band members Brent Kutzle and Tyler Spry for a few days. Tedder, an avid Instagram user, has naturally been documenting bits of their day-to-day activities all along. On Monday, he even began a new tradition of a live broadcast of him cooking dinner while chatting with fans, along with Kutzle and Spry (who all tested negative to the virus, according Tedder). The camaraderie between the musicians is sweet to witness, Tedder breaking into song while preparing a meal is as impressive as entertaining, and the fan interactions can be a gold mine sparking revelations about unreleased (think samples of songs that will soon be out) and officially unannounced projects (future tours and such). On Tuesday, the band followed their own kind of cooking show by a mini concert, with piano, cello and guitar. Taking requests from viewers, they brought out OneRepublic oldies and newer material, and covered some songs Ryan Tedder co-wrote with other artists such as Ed Sheeran’s Happier (2017).

The trio intends on keeping this recipe-then-live-gig combo going at least until the end of the week. Catch the live streams on Ryan Tedder‘s or OneRepublic‘s Instagram starting 1:00 am GMT (6:00 pm PDT) for the cooking portion, and 2:00 am GMT (7:00 pm PDT) for the musical one. They stay available for 24 hours afterwards.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B90nAvCFxGF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link


L DEVINE / live on all social media

English singer Olivia Devine was supposed to go on the road in Europe this month. Unable to do so, she decided to tour social media instead. She begun her URL Tour with giving a live show on her Instagram on March 16th, and she will keep moving from a platform to another for different dates, as if they were venues, until March 30th. For her first gig she was on her own, but she tells the BBC that she’s “going to have the full band in the studio for the next one, so it’s more like the shows you would go and see normally”.

Devine’s next show will stream on Twitter on March 20th.



JABEE / live on Vimeo

“Times are tough, but that won’t stop us from experiencing live music together”, writes Ponyboy. This venue located in Oklahoma has decided to put together four live broadcasts from March 19th to 22nd, each featuring a local artist. Opening Live Stream from Ponyboy is rapper Jabee. The artist has just released Soul Food, an EP of new songs that did not make it on his upcoming album Fragile & Cruel, to try and cheer up fans. He explains on his Instagram: “I hope they make you feel something, give you something to think about, something to bop around the new normal to.” Jonathan Blake Williams Jr. is known for being someone who is very invested in the local community. He is also not shy to speak up about issues in his music. In 2016, he teamed up with Chuck D, member of the heavily political hip hop group Public Enemy, for Monument, a track about police brutality.

Jabee’s show will be streamed on Vimeo starting 1:00 am GMT (8:00 pm CDT).

https://www.instagram.com/p/B94m3jRBUE6/


DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE / live on YouTube and Facebook

If you are looking for something calming to watch, Death Cab for Cutie lead vocalist and guitarist Ben Gibbard’s live stream might be what you are yearning for. Set up in his home studio, he will be giving half-an-hour to one-hour daily concerts “for the next two weeks”, he explained during his first show, on March 17th. Sitting with a cuppa and his guitar, the Seattle-based musician takes in requests and tells a few anecdotes about his life and about the band in-between songs.

Gibbard’s Live from Home starts every day at 11:00 pm GMT (4:00 pm PST). You can watch it on YouTube or Facebook. Past shows remain available here.



OH WONDER / live on Instagram

This London-based duo are one of those artists who had to cancel shows. On tour in Europe in March, they were only able to play live in the United Kingdom and in France. As measures prohibiting mass gatherings were issued, they went home short of five shows they had to postpone. Their upcoming dates in the United States are in the process of being rescheduled, but for the time being Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West have just announced that they will be performing a song from one of their three albums live each night, starting March 18th.

Oh Wonder will be live every evening at 8:00pm GMT (1:00 pm PST).