2020 Concerts you saw before COVID / 2020 Concerts you missed because of COVID

Q: Do we have a thread for this kind of thing? The Rolling DJing in Isolation Live Streams one doesn't apply here.

I only saw three shows before everything went black...

30-Jan Witching / Yatra @ Century Bar
12-Feb HIDE / The Ire / Fad Nauseum @ Boot & Saddle
22-Feb Warish @ First Unitarian Church

Witching is local and the singer is a pal. They headlined over Yatra, on tour from Baltimore, who have a couple of screamy doom records I like.

HIDE is Chicago industrial music that is quite intense for a two-piece. The local bands who supported were both quite good.

Warish features Tony Hawk's son and I love the album they released last year. I didn't stick around for Black Lips; had I known I wouldn't see a show for who knows how long afterwards, I probably would have even though I think they're spotty and the new country album didn't move the needle much for me.

I have given up on the shows that have cancelled or been postponed, some of them for a year. All I know is that I keep an relatively unabridged updated concert list, a holdover from my days as an entertainment editor for a local weekly in Columbus. (Unabridged means things I find out about through publicists, venues emailing me, and social media. It's not meant to be everything but it's everything that I find out about.) I updated it the other day and was unsurprised to see that all of the May shows were gone but practically all of the June ones as well.

6/10 Steve Earle @ Colonial Theatre
6/27 Doobie Brothers @ BB&T Pavilion

I would probably see Steve Earle live, and it would be kind of a cool "first show after quarantine" thing, but I am pretty sure it is going to be cancelled (it may be already; it's amazing how hard it was to get definitive answers for some shows and a few shows are still listed as selling tickets even though the tours have been cancelled). I really don't care about the Doobie Brothers to be honest.

As for shows that could be my first back, assuming Earle gets cancelled or moved, on July 11th there's a death metal show featuring locals Pissgrave at Johnny Brenda's (I would kill for a cheesesteak from Joe's next door). After that is Bush Tetras supporting The Bongos at World Cafe Live. We'll see what happens...

sampa, blick blassy, batida and baloji are all great live

i was supposed to see Steve Earle live with his play at the Public, I reallly hope that gets rescheduled at some point.

supposedly Algiers will play in early December but it's at a crowded bar so let's see how that works out

both Psycho Vegas and Decibel Metal and Beer Fest got pushed back a year and retained most of the same lineup.

so did Maryland Deathfest. that's pretty cool.

Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at Café Carlyle last December
Handel's "Agrippina" featuring Joyce DiDonato at Met Opera in February

Had no tickets for any upcoming shows. I'm a poor excuse for a New Yorker.

Current 93 in Brooklyn was rescheduled to next summer, I hope that’s conservative enough to be realistic but who can guess.

supposedly Algiers will play in early December but it's at a crowded bar so let's see how that works out
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, May 23, 2020

i saw david byrne on broadway in february, and if that's the last show i attend, fuck yeah, covid covfefe dance dance dance the night away

Spike Lee's filmed version of that show is up on HBO tomorrow btw
https://www.hbo.com/specials/american-utopia

The Elder tour that was supposed to hit Philly the second week of November was cancelled.

The next show I would see isn't until 2021:
1/12 The Schizophonics @ Boot And Saddle

The last show I was was on 2/22/2020.
I have never gone 11 weeks between shows.
There were times in my life I didn't go 11 days between shows.

I hate to bitch since it's way harder on the bands and people who make a living promoting the shows.
I just really want this shit to end.

just saw GWAR at a drive-in show.

wasn't quite the same but it felt nice.

also I was high off of an edible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW86jyTsYe4

I have a ticket for Riot Fest, which was long ago rescheduled for 11 months from now, but I'm not actually expecting it will happen

Yeah, it's been really getting me down lately, but given how things are trending now and considering we still have nothing even close to plan for dealing with things, the idea of live shows before at least 2022 seems like an absolute pipe dream at this point.

my heart still breaks a little bit every time I reminisce over an old show, but everything else has gotten so bad that the late return of live concerts is something I've begrudgingly made peace with. hoping for more creative things like small drive-in shows or maybe I'll just call Obituary on the phone or Steve Asheim of Deicide and say YO CAN I SIT IN ON A REHEARSAL

(I don't have their numbers, I just wanted to sound cool).

it's just hard to go from 50 of these a year to....0.

Obituary's streamed show was cool mostly cos they actually did their best to capture the real energy of one of their live shows. never will be the real thing, but it aws the type of thing I'd totally pay $15 to watch as opposed to some of the other streams I've seen.

I'm very grateful to have seen enough shows to last a lifetime, and yet I do occasionally get sad at the thought that there is at least a chance I may never get to see some of my favorite old people perform again: Genesis, Springsteen, AC/DC ...

The last show I had been planning to see was the Drive-By Truckers on Friday, March 13. I was on the guest list via the club, and in one of our last exchanges at the time the publicist told me that there were lots of postponements and that the club "will be dark most of the month." Little did they know ...

Last gig I saw was Kamasi Washington in early march. Music was great but it was a waaay oversold seated show, folding chairs set up with no space between them. I am tall and have broad shoulders, so i spent the whole show with my knees up near my chest, sort of leaning back onto the shoulders and chests of the unfortunate people seated next to me, just awful. During the preshow I started to freak out a little bit and decided to bail, and right as I decided this the band came on and I was stuck there for 2.5hrs. One of the most miserable gigs of my life.

On the other hand hanging out with my friends before the show - having drinks at the corner bar, talking music, running into pals, sharing nachos - was like my quintessential ideal of a pre-covid night out, an "ordinary" couple of hours that's now become an incredibly cherished memory that I think about almost every day now.

Last show I actually saw was the local cover band doing a night of Rush.

Other pre-covid gig i keep thinking about is taking my aging dad to see John Prine a few months prior. A wonderful night and very happy memory before, now with some other serious resonances obviously

Last show I saw was Hand Habits and Garcia Peoples at Schuba's, was supposed to see Garcia Peoples again at the same venue in April and Drive By Truckers this summer at a brewery near my house. Had a bunch of other shows on my radar, but those were the only ones for which I had tickets in hand*.

(* - to my ilxor shame, I was also supposed to fly to Boulder for a weekend of Dead & Co. with some friends)

I had been planning to fly out and meet a friend in Maryland to see John Prine and Emmylou Harris last summer. So, basically a double bummer.

Good thread. I've been reaching out to members of Congress in support of the RESTART Act. There's also the Save Our Stages Act but RESTART to my knowledge is more encompassing. I urge the rest of us here that miss/love concerts to make some calls or send some emails as well.

"it's just hard to go from 50 of these a year to....0." i feel ya

I'm avoiding my temptation to email Deicide and ask them if I can pay them $1,000 to play private shows for me every Saturday

(u think I'm joking, this is exactly the type of stupid thing I would do w/ my money)

i think something like 60 venues have already gone out of business this year

worldwide? in New York? in the US as a whole? in Albania? it’s not a very useful figure unless you’re more specific

Read a US musician who used to work in nightclubs as well say that he hoped in the future the US could have more government funded venues to see music , and not be reliant so much on places that need to sell alcohol. He also asserted that avante and experimental musicians make more $ now doing house shows and alternative venues than bars. He is a fan of European culture venues that get support, and are not reliant on liquor sales.

I haven’t searched for a study yet comparing Europe to US in support of venues that host music.

In case it wasn't already clear just how badly the UK live music scene is being decimated by Covid...

41.6% of agents expected to lose their jobs by year end, 56% of promoters, etc. Startlingly bleak with no light at the end of the tunnel yet. https://t.co/K4iUCi3tq9 pic.twitter.com/SHtu0dsDwn

— Jack Stephens (@iamjackstephens) October 21, 2020

on a purely personal level i have existential concerns about my future that are feeling more relevant as we get into fall with no work on the horizon

"worldwide? in New York? in the US as a whole? in Albania? it’s not a very useful figure unless you’re more specific"

Sorry, in the US I assume. i think that was a figure from NIVA. National Independent Venue Association.

How have we been doing on reaching out to our reps on this?

Happy anniversary to the last show I saw before lockdown (also the last thing of any kind that I did before lockdown) Robyn Hitchcock at the Fremont Abbey in Seattle. I wrote about it upthread but was just thinking about it today, because wow, it's been a whole year.

last show i saw before covid was the chemical brothers in queens. i wanna say that was august 2019?

shows i had tickets for, but... y'know. four tet with the fancy squid lighting. thom yorke at hammerstein ballroom.

sad face emoji.

I saw Wye Oak a week before lockdown and was contemplating seeing Wire the night everything shut down entirely.

Gonna be a bonanza of gigs when things reopen.

Robyn has done dozens of zoom shows during this, he easily earned my Patreon buck. Kind of hoping he will be the first real show I see in the resumed world

Earache Records emailed me a survey about whether I'd be amenable to an Earache metal cruise in 2022. assuming it could only be their roster, that's kind of a bummer considering how far they've fallen, but I would be open to it if the 70000 Tons still isn't operational. or if it's still unsafe by January.

frankly i'm thinking the supply is going to be well outclassed by demand for a while. not every artist will have been vaccinated, might not feel it safe, different nations will be in different stages of vaccination, and some may be afraid to commit to a tour after what happened in 2020. we'll get there eventually but i can see pickings being slim for a bit.

I saw no concerts in 2020. Last one was Lana del Rey in November 2019, insanely packed show where it was hard to walk through the crowd. In 2020 I had tickets to see Vampire Weekend (taking my kids to their first concert, was the plan), SOBxRBE with ShooterGang Kony,The Decemberists with Fruit Bats, and maybe some others.

I didn't go to any shows in 2020 before the pandemic hit but I was supposed to see the 1975 (for the third time) and the Radio Dept

I went to quite a few. still remember going to Overkill on 3/10 and realizing this was probably the last one for a while (though in my mind, a "while" meant like 2-3 months - I still hadn't firmly grasped what was happening).

I got really drunk as a result because I knew it was the last one for a bit. the outdoor drive-thru Gwar show last year was the only other one since then.

still hadn't firmly grasped what was happening).

It could have been three months if the government had acted

(It could be only another three months if the replacement government would act)

lordy, don't remind me. the memories of last year's colossal government bungling already have me ready to destroy my laptop.

last saw: Mulatu Astatke, which itself had been rescheduled two or three times for at least a year. Glad that finally happened.

Rescheduled: Dead Can Dance (rescheduled to this May from last spring; not optimistic that this is going to happen either); Motley Crue/Def Lepperd/Joan Jett. Rescheduled to this July. Might happen? Not sure. It's outdoors at least. Pet Shop Boys and New Order: pushed out to this November. Maybe.

Cancelled: FKA Twigs (really bummed about this one); Nick Cave.

my last concert was a year ago today: King Promise (including guest appearances by several Dutch-Ghanaian and Dutch-Surinamese artist friends). i was quite wary to go and stayed on the balcony, with as few people around me as possible. the next day our government instated a lockdown. it was a good show.

meanwhile, after having been postponed from last June to April first, the Céline Dion show I have (quite expensive) tickets for has now been rescheduled for (gulp) September 2022.

monstrosity was the last one I caught

but was gearing up for a busy month or two. had tickets for: haru nemuri, steve roach, crowbar/sepultura, squarepusher, coffins

all cancelled, sucks

lol i just got an email from a promoter announcing an indoor show, love the optimism guys

Nowadays in BK is reopening and I've heard murmurs of April shows from at least one other NYC venue
it's gonna happen; here's hoping it's measured and responsible

variant numbers are rising everywhere so nothing short of putting everyone in plastic bubbles will be "measured and responsible"

anyway I should also mention I'm in Ontario, Canada where the vaccine rollout has been atrocious

I should add it's been a week since I've been to shows and it doesn't look like I caught anything. Fully vaccinated, but I also wear an N95 that I wear properly and never take off - goes on before I leave home and stays on until I step back through the same door. (i.e no drinking much less eating at any of the shows) I don't even touch it unless my hands have been thoroughly washed or at least hand-sanitized.

Bob Dylan just announced the first batch of dates for the “Rough and Rowdy Ways” World Wide Tour 2021-2024.

My first show back was Wilco/Sleater-Kinney a month or so ago, an outdoor/vax required event so I felt pretty safe. It was a good warm-up for the college football game I attended a couple weeks after that, 110,000 screamers and no vax requirement! At this point I would feel comfortable at any kind of outdoor event, but am still a little wary of indoor venues.

Hopefully Bob swings back through Chicago at some point over that four year tour, I'm not ready to pull the trigger on tickets for an indoor show just yet.

Shows I had tickets for before Covid:
Holly Herndon
Floating Points
Squarepusher
Jenny Hval
Dan Deacon

Shows I bought tickets for in May/June thinking it would be safe to see and didn't go to because of my concerns with Delta:
Madlib & Freddie Gibbs

I think the Deacon show has been rescheduled, not sure of the rest (I think most if not all were canceled and either refunded or given to the artists)

Dead and Company cancelled their two Florida shows coming up next month. Official reasoning being "routing and production logistics", but I won't be surprised to lean that is has more to do with DeSantis and his anti-vaccine proof stance. They've been pretty big on proof of vaccine requirements at their shows and vocally concerned about Delta. Considering they are still managing the "routing and production logistics" are still getting them through North Carolina and Georgia, it's hard not to read between the lines about why only the Florida shows got scratched.

Shit, wrong thread, thought this was the other COVID tour thread.