New Music Lockdown 6: David Gilmour, Taylor Swift, Prince, Bat For Lashes and Blossoms

As the music industry slips into the rhythm of lockdown, so the spigot slowly becomes untapped and events, livestreams and similar start to flow more steadily. This week a host of big names are up to a bunch of different stuff, all worth checking. Dive in!

A Theatre for Dreamers/Von Trapped Family Livestream + Dave Gilmour Live at Pompeii

A couple of treats for Pink Floyd fans, from both ends of the band’s career. Most current is the latest home-stream by guitarist David Gilmour’s family. These take place each Friday and partly celebrate Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson’s bestselling novel A Theatre For Dreamers. The latest edition, the sixth, alongside genial family bickering, poetry, and some harp-playing, spends a good chunk of time with Gilmour’s adopted son Charlie quizzing him in-depth about his relationship with late Floyd founder and cult hero, Syd Barrett, and sees him perform Barrett's ‘Dominoes’ and a cheerfully messy version of ‘Octopus’. If that’s not enough, Gilmour has, since last Friday, made his spectacular 2016 concert at the Pompeii Amphitheatre available on YouTube. It’s a sequel of sorts to Floyd’s 1972 concert film from the same venue and has plenty of the band’s music, including “Wish You Were Here”, “One of These Days” and “Comfortably Numb”.

Below: Watch A Theatre for Dreamers/Von Trapped Family Livestream #6

Below: Watch David Gilmour live at Pompeii (full two-and-a-half hour concert)

Blossoms, Isolation Covers

The Coronavirus outbreak put paid to Blossoms plans to tour the country earlier this year, but the Stockport outfit have kept themselves busy by uploading a series of covers to social media channels over the past several weeks (here). Recorded from their homes, the five-piece have tackled the likes of Frank Ocean track “Lost” and Beatles classic “Paperback Writer” with entertaining gusto, roping in in pals such as Miles Kane and The Coral’s James Skelly to help them out. They’ve added a selection of their own material too. The initiative has proved enough of a success that the tracks will be officially released as an album later in the year. (by Jonathan Geddes)

Prince and The Revolution: Live

From midnight on Thursday night, UK-time, Prince’s YouTube channel will be showing a peak Eighties live set that will be available for three days (15^th-17^th). Being shown to promote the release of a live album of the same name, it’s footage from a concert at the Carrier Dome, Syracuse, New York, in March 1985, chock full of classic hits such as “1999”, “Purple Rain”, “When Doves Cry” and “Little Red Corvette”, as well as older (and ruder!) numbers. The looping broadcast, which features the classic Revolution line-up (Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, etc) will be preceded at 11.00 PM by a Q&A with Revolution drummer Bobby Z in which fans can participate.

Bat For Lashes Live in LA

As the lockdown goes on, musicians still need to earn a living so, while it’s lovely that so much free livestreamed music has been out there, it was inevitable someone would return to the paid concert model. That someone is Natasha Khan, the woman behind alt-pop outfit Bat For Lashes, who is streaming a ticketed concert from Los Angeles this Saturday (16^th). Khan has recently completed the tour accompanying last year’s Lost Girls album but promises she will be dipping deep into her earlier work. The live-streamed concert takes place at 9.30 PM UK-time and costs $12 prior and $15 on the day (tickets and access here ), with ticket-holders being given 24 hour access after the event.

Taylor Swift – City of Lover

Taylor Swift’s Glastonbury appearance would have been one of the most talked about festival sets of 2020 but, of course, the world’s mightiest green field party had to cancel. Those who still want a fresh dose of live TayTay will, however, have an opportunity this weekend as a concert from last autumn at L’Olympia Theatre in Paris is being aired in the US on Sunday. UK fans will have to wait until 3.00 AM Monday morning to catch it “live” on platforms such as Hulu, but it will also be available afterwards on the Disney Channel. The set contains 16 tracks, including material from last year's Lover album, alongside well-loved older cuts such as “Shake it Off” and “I Knew You Were Trouble”.

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