Alternative Staging for Live Music

Richard Thompson at Woodbridge High School

Looking from the stage onto the field at Woodbridge High School, folk music's Richard Thompson noted that the area covered was about the size of the Wembley Arena in his native London, England. There were far fewer people, he noted, thanks to the New Jersey venue's creative seating arrangement. White paint on the grass outlined squares measured six-feet apart, marking where households could place their lawn chairs while maintaining a reasonably safe social distance from other groupings in the audience. Several of the music artists originally booked for the summer series cancelled their tours, yet Woodbridge Arts has featured free concerts up to five nights each week all summer.

photo courtesy of Woodbridge Arts

Drive-in concerts, where passengers are restricted to stay within a designated distance from their car, are increasing throughout the country. Having cars occupy nearly half of the real estate means that most fans will be much further away from the stage than desired. Perhaps this is what led to the controversy over the recent Chainsmokers concert in Southampton, NY, where fan-generated videos showed unmasked members of the audience crowding closely by the stage in spite of the state's coronavirus mandates.

Ghostwood Country Club at Marshall Stack

Eli Bridges at Marshall Stack

Several restaurants are experimenting within state-mandated protocols, having musicians perform in the restaurant to audiences seated at tables outdoors, or in some cases bringing the musicians outdoors along with the seated audience. In New York's Lower East Side, Marshall Stack has featured Strange Majik, Cancion Franklin, Ghostwood Country Club, and Eli Bridges. Anyway Café's roster has included Argentina's gypsy-flamenco guitarist Gabriel Hermida, Contemporary Adults, Kat Minogue, and Kristina Camins. A few blocks away, Nomad similarly hosts various ensembles several nights each week. David's Cafe features Piers Lawrence on Saturdays.

Gabriel Hermida at the Anyway Cafe

Contemporary Adults at the Anyway Cafe

Kat Minogue at the Anyway Cafe

Ondine Appel w. Sebastian Noelle at Nomad

Piers Lawrence at David's Cafe

Washington Square Park draws many different types of entertainers, from musicians to painters to "living statues." Camila Aldet sings while tap dancing. Booming from the area by the fountain you may hear a keyboardist introduce himself as "My name is Lee and I play r&b."

Camila Aldet at Washington Square Park

Lee in Washington Square Park

Pocket Size Statue in Washington Square Park

Acro Yoga in Washington Square Park

Tompkins Square Park perhaps hosts the most performers on weekday evenings and most of the afternoon on weekends, with as many as three groups performing in various areas. These musicians include the perennial Eric Paulin Band, Pinc Louds, Proud Yuma, the East Village Social Distancing All-Stars, the Underground Horns, Magic Forest, and Scott Stenten. This weekend, Chris Flash will stage his annual commemorative Tompkins Square Park Police Riot concert, this year with minimal staging and amplification, featuring Gass Wilde, Rew Starr, and several other local musicians.

Live streams saturate the internet. Many of these invite the viewers into the homes of the performers, with the artists using from one to three cameras. The concert series originating from the Bowery Electric, however, stages the bands on a professional stage and offers the most advanced production, utilizing eight cameras.

Major concert promoters continue struggling to strategize how to resurrect concert productions on a major scale. It may take years for that sort of concert industry to regain its footing. In the meantime, however, alternative staging is reinventing the way live music can be presented.