5 Ways To Connect With Your Favorite Artist During a Pandemic
March 11th will mark one full year of living in a global pandemic—wild. Some people have lost the ability to sit at a table with a group of friends, while others have unfortunately lost much more. Across the globe, everyone lost the experience of seeing a live performance. This has impacted not only the viewers but also the artists. Many musicians had to resort to crowdsourced funding to pay their bills while not touring. Spotify even incorporated a new feature that allows fans to donate to their favorite artists while live concerts have been put on hold till 2022.
2022 may sound far away, but these five ways to get the concert experience within your own home will hopefully make this heavy, uncertain time a little bit easier on all of us music lovers.
Virtual Music Festivals
One of my favorite music festivals is Outside Lands which is held in San Fransisco, CA. This festival had to cancel two summers in a row. So, Outside Lands decided to take advantage of quarantine and created a new virtual experience, Inside Lands. This two-day virtual festival brings together both live performances and old sets from previous years. All the performances streamed make it feel as if you were at the festival yourself. If you wanted a more elevated experience, you could buy Inside Lands merchandise, including puzzles, blankets, sweatpants, and faces masks.
Another music festival offering a virtual experience is hip-hop and rap music festival Rolling Loud. During quarantine, they’ve consistently streamed a variety of performances and exclusive interviews on their Twitch channel dubbing the experience “Loud Stream.”
Whatever your musical preferences, take a minute to check out your favorite festival’s website and see if they’re offering any virtual experiences when the festival season begins again in April!
Source: Inside Lands
2. Stream Old Concerts
I created a playlist of what I believe to be the best past and present performances on YouTube. Some of these performances took place in 1996, and some took place within the last five years. The eleven performances that I selected I believe they transcend time and have the ability to knock you off your feet—regardless of what year it is.
Two artists I want to spotlight are Laura Marling & Ben Howard. Laura Marling’s performance is particularly noteworthy for its ability to blend two worlds with traditional stomp-and-holler folk and Indian music. On the other hand, Ben Howard puts on an emotionally provoking performance with haunting lyrics and a unique take on ambient electric guitar with his performance of “Time Is Dancing.”
Grab a blanket, stream these artists to your TV, and enjoy the show!
3. Set Post Notifications on Your Phone
With quarantine still in place, many artists have begun or continue to use their social media platforms more consistently. Interaction between an artist and their fans has increased overall. Often musicians will do a scheduled live stream with a Q&A or upload themselves singing or playing guitar on their Instagram. Specifically, electronic/dance duo Sofi Tukker has been livestreaming every day of quarantine. Leon Bridges, a personal favorite artist of mine, has tons of saved livestreams on his Instagram page.
By pressing the bell symbol on your favorite artist’s Instagram page, you can choose what kind of activity you want to be notified about—livestreams included!
4. Drive-In Concerts
Depending on where you live, you may be able to see live music in the upcoming months in the comfort of your car. Due to climate, most of these drive-in concerts occur in the southern states, but some drive-in concerts are happening north in places like New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Besides significantly decreased risk of COVID-19 contamination, a hidden feature of drive-in concerts is they are a more accessible way to see live music for those with disabilities. Tightly-packed spaces trigger some people with mental disabilities, so staying in the car is a way to stay safe and experience live music simultaneously. People who may need assistance with a wheelchair don’t have to worry about the stress of getting inside the venue and through the metal detectors. Instead, they can remain in their car and enjoy the show worry-free.
But, if we’re being honest with ourselves, who could’ve ever imagined this time last year that we would even be talking about drive-in concerts now? Unfortunately, we might have to get used to drive-ins and pod seating for the next year or so. Here are some drive-in options in various parts of America to help you slowly assimilate back into the live music experience.
For classical lovers, Mainly Mozart is a concert series based out of San Diego, CA, and they are offering some drive-in orchestra experiences, currently booking for April and June. On the East Coast, Ocean City, Maryland, just laid out a plan for modified COVID events running all summer. Thankfully, drive-in concerts were included in this plan, so keep an eye out for artist announcements and concert dates coming for summer 2021.
Source: Billboard
5. Support a Charitable Cause and Listen to Some Great Music
The option of hosting an in-person charity gala to raise money is no longer possible. Many nonprofits have moved to holding virtual galas and opening the experience up to the public. An incredible organization, The Tibet Fund, hosted its virtual benefit concert on February 17th. In a sense, the experience is similar to a virtual music festival, but your ticket purchase directly supports an impactful organization.
The Feel Something Foundation, an organization focused on protecting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, will have its virtual celebration of Stonewall Day on June 6th. This foundation was started by Adam Lambert, a musician who got his start on American Idol. Lambert will be running the livestream himself as a celebration of gay pride.
Source: JamBase
These five options may not be the solution to the absence of live music, but they certainly lessen the blow. One day soon, this will hopefully all be a distant memory, and we will be pressed up against barricades once again waiting to see our favorite artist.
Until then, I’ll be feeling like this until 2022, when live music starts again.
Source: Twitter