Live Streams - How To Stay Sane in Lockdown

Day 12 of social distancing, day 5 of national lockdown, day 3 of self isolation with two small people – it has been a productive day so far; I have bled the radiators and haven’t cried in the front garden yet. But, it has been distinctly lacking in joy and I am starting to miss music a lot. An aural diet of Spotify and 6 Music just isn’t cutting it anymore, and the kids are playing Rick Astley on repeat every room I go into, literally to taunt me.

I need some good stuff to feed into my headphones, so, in this time of social distancing, it is time to head online and find some music to stream into my ears and eyes.

Live streaming music gigs are aplenty at the moment; artists worldwide are stuck at home with nothing to do and barely any money to be made with all gigs and clubnights cancelled for the foreseeable future; major artists are doing some pretty special stuff for their fans as well. Innovative and creative ways to keep the music industry running and keep us connected are popping up everywhere. But, it can seem a daunting task trawling through it all to find some decent nuggets, so, having a bit of time on my hands between crying in the garden, staring into the abyss and training on the job as a primary and secondary school teacher, I have done a bit of digging for you.

It has at times been hit and miss. A friend with impeccable taste informed me that Shame were playing LIVE from the Pyramid stage on Friday at 2.30pm on Instagram. I packed a cup of tea and a big slice of cake and headed to my desk, and got comfy at 2.25pm, to refresh a short clip of Charlie Steen and his girlfriend stuck behind a tractor somewhere near Pilton. After twenty minutes of my laptop battling with a hellishly sluggish internet connection, born of the whole world currently sharing 5g conspiracy theories on Facebook, I eventually got to the Pyramid Stage, to find he had finished his 3 minute acoustic set, his first phone had run out of battery and his second was about to die, and he was wandering around a field shouting over the howling wind answers to questions posted live by watchers like “did you take your PS2 with you into isolation?” and “what colour should I dye my hair?”.

As I am the one leading this search and you are my captive audience, I can subject you to my own music tastes, and Metronomy are my favourite band in the whole wide world, so next stop is Metronomy TV, which will be broadcast live on Instagram every Monday evening at 7pm BST for the foreseeable. Promising live music, competitions, recipes and awkward chat, lockdown has all of a sudden become a dream come true for fangirls like me. I can hardly contain myself; I get to see Joseph Mount in his living room at last. Things kicked off with Joseph treating us to a so-bad-it’s-good one-man version of Corinne on acoustic guitar, then Oscar playing some questionable free jazz from New York, a live cook-along of pasta, tuna, onion and a rotting pepper, more live music, a still life drawing competition, live darts, and Anna Prior singing the Portuguese national anthem, amongst many more treats. It is shonky, joyful, incredibly stilted, but the best thing ever. As is Beak’s ongoing covers competition on Twitter (check out our very own Vonalina Cake’s wheezy organ offering). But then again, please bear in mind I am drunk now and am finding comfort in watching my favourite musicians slip into isolated insanity.

Christine and The Queens is offering up a short live set at 5pm every day on Instagram which is a much more cool and polished affair, as are plenty of other artists as well. Just get following your favourites and exploring, if live darts and terrible covers aren’t your cup of tea.

Next stop is exploring the various Facebook groups set up to showcase musicians, whether established artists or anyone isolated with an acoustic guitar and a beanbag or their own decks in bedsits and spare rooms up and down the country. Check out Live Jam @lockdown, the open mic smorgasboard joy (or pain) of Socially Distant Fest, to the altogether more professional setups, such as the group of Glasgow artists who have set up Music for the Isolated Generation; with an amazing lineup of live gigs with links to where you can donate to the artists or download their music.

Here in Bristol, there is some fantastic stuff coming out of Specialist Subject Records’ headquarters above The Exchange on Old Market. Every Tuesday you can watch a selection of their signed artists doing live gigs via their Instagram story, and believe me, it is all good.

The big guns are really pulling out the stops as well. A number of stand-alone websites have popped up offering 24/7 festival line-ups to enjoy in the comfort of our own homes. Boiler Room has grabbed the mantel and run off with it, setting up a whole section called Streaming from Isolation, where you can also donate to the Global Foodbank Network at the touch of a button as you watch. On Saturday night I was treated to a full set by The Comet is Coming, and if I had stayed up any longer could have spent the rest of the night streaming sets by Disclosure, Helena Hauff and dipped into DJ EZ doing a mammoth 24 hour DJ set. Sadly, red wine, crisps and desperation don’t stimulate me enough to stay up alone past midnight in this new world order.

In short, my top tips are to follow your favourite labels on social media, follow your favourite venues, follow your favourite bands and artists. Musicians and DJs are being amazingly creative with getting their music out there for us, and there are some real gems to be found if you dig. And remember, musicians around the world, big and unknown, are losing their livelihoods – donate where you can or buy their music and merch. Let’s do what we can to keep the music scene going whilst using music to ease the trials of social isolation.

For those who love a good list - here’s where to go

https://www.stayathomefest.com/

https://www.socialdistancingfestival.com/

https://boilerroom.tv/

Specialist Subject Records Tuesday live streams https://quarantunes.crd.co/

https://www.facebook.com/Music4theIsolatedGen/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sociallydistantfest/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LiveJamAtLockdown/

Beak on Twitter https://twitter.com/BeakBristol?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Written by Music & Arts Editor, Kerry Mead

Kerry is a long term resident of Bristol. Music obsessive, book obsessive, social butterfly, escaper of responsibilities, self diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, full time single parent and registered carer to her oldest child who has autism, she also squeezes in two part time jobs; one in ad sales and the other in communications for a local charity.When she isn't busy with that lot Kerry is a writer. She writes about parenting and neurodiversity, and all the other stuff too. You can check out her blog here.