Last night was a special night for fans of live music (and specifically jambands) as we seem to have finally seen our first concert back on a real live stage since the social distancing period began across the United States following the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. Arizona’s finest Spafford brought their full crew to the Digital Drive-In in Mesa, Arizona and hosted a full audience of cars and fans via livestream.
Photos via @CitonePhoto’s IG story pic.twitter.com/osmRUEv5Hw
— LIVE (music blog) (@livemusicblog) May 25, 2020
The setup seemed to mimic what we’d expect showing up at any music festival, in that fans streamed in via cars, but once inside fans were left to park in little pod like areas that gave plenty of distance between unique vehicles/crews. The band set up next to a dual-sided screen and played straight forward to an “audience” of the crew only, whereas most fans stayed back next to their cars and their homies.
Then the show started, and the horns started honking…
https://twitter.com/Dianna_2Ns/status/1264739357048532992
Ultimately, the evening flowed exactly like a jamband show you’d expect — two sets, great jams, peaks, valleys, and energetic playing — but it looked and felt like the weakest-attended music festival you’ve ever been to. One wonders if this is the future of live music we’ll be forced to deal with for the near future, but honestly, based on how well these guys pulled it off, it wouldn’t be a horrible thing to see a show or two like this during 2020 if that’s all we’ll be able to organize around.
Plenty of fans made the absolutely best of it, too:
https://twitter.com/Dianna_2Ns/status/1264767969608888321
The band and crew created a special poster for the event which would be a killer collectible for fans wanting to remember this unique moment.
You can watch the whole show here below.
Kudos to the Spafford team for pulling this one off.
