It’s 6 a.m., the coffee is brewing and I’m headed for a concert. The venue is Zoom.
Yes, the online meeting platform that has suddenly become very familiar to many of us was the stage for New Zealand singer-songwriter Nadia Reid, who was supposed be on the road in support of her third album “Out of My Province.”
Her original itinerary would have seen her performing in Brussels, Belgium, as we all fired up our apps.
Instead, she’s locked down at home, like so many of us around the world, performing introspective songs of heartache, love and longing while seated between two houseplants.
“I put on this top part of the suit I had made for the tour,” she said before kicking off the show with an a cappella version of the gospel tune “I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table.” “I’ve been wearing track pants for the last three weeks.”
That’s something many of us can relate to these days. There’s often no reason to even put on pants, and we pine for the communal experience of a dinner out or a live concert.
Credit: ALEX LOVELL-SMITH
Credit: ALEX LOVELL-SMITH
Musicians miss it, too. You can see it in the explosion of online performances, on Facebook, on Instagram, via StageIt, among others.
Before Reid’s show on April 17, I’d only experienced Zoom as a place for meetings with work colleagues or happy hour hangouts with friends. This one felt like connecting with 300+ friends from around the world. For the folks in Reid’s native New Zealand, it was 10 p.m. Here on the east coast of the U.S., the sun wasn’t even up yet on a Friday morning.
It felt odd, but then everything feels odd these days. Normal isn’t a thing. But it was also heartening, and even communal. Unlike being in a darkened club, you could scroll through 18 pages of faces from around the world and see them beam with joy while Reid’s angelic voice wafted over us all. Something’s lost, but something’s gained.
After singing “Best Thing” from her new album, Reid took a moment to make sure no one was locked out of the show. Then we get a glimpse in another frame of fluffy white pup Joni with Reid’s husband Angus McBryde, who acted as recording engineer/sound man for the show. You won’t get that in your average live show.
The painful truth of our current predicament is always there in the background, though.
“Everything was going alright until John Prine died,” Reid said. “Then I was just [expletive] mad.” She sang the great American songwriter’s “Summer’s End” with its refrain of “come on home, you don’t have to be alone.”
It was a concert, complete with tickets at different price levels, but it was also a chance to feel a hint of what we’re missing. It was a connection.
You can see and hear some of Nadia Reid’s earlier Facebook Live performances and more at her page.
