I've always said that the best trait anyone could possibly have is adaptability. While there are certainly things that can be predicted or forecasted, sooner or later, things are going to happen that you didn't expect. The COVID-19 pandemic obviously threw every aspect of life into a situation that required adaptation. For the alternative music scene, there was an ever-growing fear that things could never go back to the way they once were. As 2020 drew to its end, the live concert atmosphere is nowhere near a glorious return, but many bands have turned to the online live-stream avenue to reach their fans in a new and exciting way. I thought it would be a good idea to highlight the bands that pushed this medium forward in the scene, and were able to provide us some entertainment in these uncertain times.
A few things worth noting: there is no reason to hold a band in a lower regard if they did not put together one of these streams. There are a lot of issues at play that make these work, and with bands having members living in different areas, worrying about making a living without touring (their main source of income), and the overall necessity to prioritize mental health, it's completely understandable why some bands chose to lay low in 2020. This is merely a way to highlight the bands who were creative and lucky enough to put these shows on.
Code Orange If the live-stream concert ever becomes a long-term solution for bands that don't have the means to tour, it'll be possible because of what Code Orange was able to put together in 2020. This is a double-edged sword, however, because these live-streams will need to clear the high bar Code Orange set for future streams. After the lockdown orders rolled in on the actual release date of the band's prolific album Underneath, the band was force to cancel their album release show. With less than 24 hours to react to the news, the band was able to put on a multi-camera live stream in the empty venue in Pittsburgh they were meant to cement their legacy in that night. They ended up doing that anyway, as they blistered through a set that somehow evoked the same chaos they play with to an audience to the empty ballroom floor. If the band stopped there, they'd have made this list, but they didn't. Utilizing the Twitch channel they created for the release show, the band started a bi-weekly stream on the channel, culminating in their MTV Unplugged-inspired Under the Skin live stream. Featuring a selection of the band's songs stripped-down and an eerie cover of Alice in Chains, the band pushed the boundaries of what their band was capable of to push the medium, and it paid off. Finally, on Halloween, the band returned to their full-fledged brutality, plugging their instruments in for Last Ones Left, a live concert visual experience. The band's stage setup in this one featured visuals you'd expect from a band like Empire of the Sun at Coachella, but the metalcore front-runners were able to make it work for them as well. What's more, the band had collaborator Machine Girl and would-have-been tourmates Year of the Knife and Jesus Piece submit sets for the streaming event as well. The latter two streams even had an MTV2 Headbanger's Ball spinoff called Mudbanger's Ball, hosted by MTV host Riki Rachtmann, to get the night kicked off as well. While so many bands used 2020 to slow down, Code Orange opted to speed up their productivity, and treated their fans to a litany of great content throughout the year. There's no other way to put it: this band is just built different.
Dance Gavin Dance Suffering from the same issues as Code Orange, where their highly-anticipated album was right at the beginning of lockdown, Dance Gavin Dance were able to pull a few great events together in the wake of a lost year of touring. First, they were able to put on a phenomenal record release show, featuring a set with a few new jams and a couple deep cuts to please fans of any era of the band. Next, the band announced they'd be releasing a follow-up to their live-recorded album Tree City Sessions. This time, there was a great twist to it: fan voting would help decide the songs that ended up on Tree City Sessions 2. To celebrate the release of the album, the band announced another live stream, this time leaving the friendly confines of their practice space to perform the stream outdoors, on a shut-down bridge in the band's home base of Sacramento. The live album sounds pristine, just as the band did on both of their streams. The band's spring tour was delayed a full year, but the two concerts they were able to put on this year were a fantastic consolation prize.
Silverstein You could make the argument that Silverstein has the biggest gripe about the touring shutdown of 2020. Not only was the band touring behind the expansive, collaboration-heavy new album A Beautiful Place to Drown, the band was on their 20-Year Anniversary Tour, and were forced to end the tour prematurely before they reached its conclusion. Never the kind to gripe, the band kept their anniversary as a year-long celebration, releasing a mock-umentary called "Quaranstein," featuring zoom appearances from a few collaborators on Drown. The band also put together a live-stream concert over the summer, which featured a lot of deep cuts for the die-hards. The band have also gotten into the habit of live-streaming on Twitch, which may open up some more opportunities to reach fans in the future as well.
Underoath Nothing to promote, but Underoath had plenty to bring to the table in 2020. They started off by doing a live playthrough of all their albums with their most notable lineup (including Disambiguation with then-drummer Daniel Davison), with each stream including special guests from the band's peers. To sweeten things up over the summer, the band announced their ambitious live-stream concert series, the Underoath Observatory, where they played their near-perfect three-album run of (They're Only Chasing Safety), Define the Great Line, and Lost in the Sound of Separation front-to-back. The multi-camera streams were coupled with long-awaited vinyl represses of all three albums, and the band has since posted the live recordings on streaming services as well, to give you an indication of how great they sounded. The band's lighting and stage setup were a great enhancement to the experience, and Underoath's attention to detail remains a notch above nearly any other band out there. I'd love to see the band bring back the observatory setup for a stream of 2017's Erase Me, if this is the quality we're meant to expect from them. It's good to have dreams.
Live at Studio Four Live from Will Yip's basement studio, it's (probably) your favorite band from Pennsylvania! Studio Four has been the recording home of some of emo's most beloved albums, and Will Yip opened up his studio to bands he's gotten great work out of over the years for a series of great live streams. Starting with Tigers Jaw, who provided self-made video interludes to enhance their set, the potential for these streams was evident right away. With The Menzingers, The Bouncing Souls, The Starting Line, and Circa Survive frontman Anthony Green following, and each band providing event-exclusive merch, this Live at Studio Four brand has some serious potential for staying power once concerts are back. With Yip remaining the go-to producer in the emo genre right now, there are plenty of bands that we could see playing that space over the next few years.
The Wonder Years The Wonder Years were forced to cut the tour supporting their second release in the Burst and Decay series short in early 2020. Desperate to make up for those missed shows, the band put together a live stream that featured the stripped-down songs from the Burst and Decay drops, and a proper plugged-in set to boot. Then, the band found a unique way to continue their new tradition of their covers set on Halloween. The six-piece split themselves into two factions of 3, with each "band" performing a selection of blink-182 songs, followed by an hour-long set of the band's own songs as well. The band were also able to execute a really cool costume contest to serve as the interludes between sets, and crowned a champion as all six members of the band performed "Dammit" together. If I were asked to predict which band would have done a livestream event during the pandemic, The Wonder Years would have been high on the list in my head. They somehow exceeded my expectations in this one.
Every Time I Die Honestly, it would have been enough if Every Time I Die didn't do anything else but release two new songs in December. But the band have a festival that they have put on and curate themselves over the last two years, and they weren't going to let anything, not even the most dangerous virus in a lifetime, stop them from throwing that party. While it certainly lost its luster this year, the 'Tid the Season Tidathon was an all-out blitz for the band to raise a comically low amount of money, which I'd be shocked if they didn't exponentially exceed. The show featured the band's typical hijinks cranked up to 11 thanks to a year without touring, and you could sense the band's energy and profound relief that they actually got to play music for a "crowd" at least once this year. We'll hopefully see these tireless touring legends in 2021, but the livestream we got was great, as well. Fingers crossed I'll be able to make it up to Buffalo to attend the festival, which really feels more like the band's love letter to their hometown, one of these times.
As the vaccines become more accessible and the live music industry begins its glorious comeback, I'll be interested to see if these livestream events fall by the wayside. I don't think they will, if I had to guess; there's a lot to be said about how much flexibility they offer bands, who wouldn't have to go through the grueling logistics of touring to bring their music to their fans. That being said, it seems like every one of these streams featured the bands mentioning something along the lines of how excited they were to get back out on the road, so we'll have to see how that balances out. What streams did you enjoy from this year? I know there were a ton of bands I missed out on (PVRIS and TDWP immediately come to mind), what other streams did you check out this year?
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