With live music on hold for the indefinite future amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a slew of musicians have started to livestream “concerts” from their home for fans social distancing. Amongst those are folk hero Neil Young, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and a truly unhinged Robbie Williams.
Neil Young announced his live performance series, ‘Fireside Sessions’, on his Neil Young Archives website earlier this week. “Because we are all at home and not venturing out, we will try to do a stream from my fireplace with my lovely wife [Daryl Hannah] filming. It will be a down-home production, a few songs, a little time together,” he shared.
The thought of Neil Young and his lovely wife Daryl collaborating on a livestream has filled my heart with the purest kind of joy.
Young has already executed one instalment of his Fireside Session in support of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders — who he recently endorsed in a lengthy post on his website. You can watch his performance of ‘Heart of Gold’ below.
Thank you Neil Young and @dhlovelife #NotMeUs pic.twitter.com/SUhIJvbtmU
— People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) March 16, 2020
Chris Martin took part of Instagram’s ‘Together, at Home’ series, where he live-streamed a mini-concert that saw him perform a bunch of fan requests, as well as a cover of David Bowie classic ‘Life on Mars’.
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“Maybe 9/11 was the last time I felt like we were all together,” he said of the experience. Which is, a bit of a bonkers thing to say but we’re not going to dwell on it for too long because social distancing has us all feeling a little loopy.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/B90Ft_knpuT/
Earlier today Ben Gibbard kicked off the first of a series of live streams he will be undertaking from his home studio.
“I know you are all really freaked out right now. I am too. And while I’m proud that we’re all doing the necessary things at the moment to help flatten the curve, I know it has left us all incredibly isolated,” Gibbard wrote in an Instagram story, announcing the series.
“Because we’re all going through this nightmare together we are quite literally NOT alone. Our live and stories are all linked, maybe now more than they have ever been.”
Watch: Ben Gibbard: Live From Home
If you had the pleasure of watching the absolute chaos that was Robbie Williams live concert from bed this morning, you are so lucky. My housemate and I are both days into social distancing and feeling a little mentally frail, that livestream both invigorated us and nearly broke us completely. It was true mania. I can’t stress how important it is that you head to Robbie Williams’ Instagram right now and watch his story.
Stay inside, stay safe and stay sane everybody.
