11 ways to keep the music playing in Liverpool during lockdown

We may be living a gig-free existence until guidelines are put in place, but during these times, music has played on and continued to keep us all connected like never before in Liverpool.

Artists all over Liverpool have found new ways to reach out to fans, keeping us on our feet, entertained, and pledging to support an industry that won’t stay quiet for too long!

Tim’s Twitter Listening Party

There’s a full schedule of parties coming up, with music fans from all over the world joining The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess and special-guest artists to simultaneously hit play or drop the needle on some inspirational albums, while live tweeting their way through the tracks.

This Friday, June 12, Tim will be among the many hanging out with Liverpool’s Tea Street Band, bringing their critically-acclaimed 2018, Parr Street Studio album, Frequency, to the listening party from 8pm.

Tea Street Band

Tune in earlier, at 7pm, for Liam Gallagher MTV Unplugged, and the listen-along continues at 9pm, with Shed Seven’s Instant Pleasures, followed by 1980’s Liverpool hit-makers, OMD, taking a listen to Dazzle Ships at 10pm.

Revisit Tim’s Listening Party on the replay page which features Liverpool’s Ian Broudie chatting over The Lightening Seeds’ Jollification and Dizzy Heights; to The Coral discussing their eponymous album and Magic And Medicine, along with a whole host of world-renowned artists including Boy George, Duran Duran, Mark Ronson and The Cure.

Tune into Tim’s Listening Party on Twitter here

Get Into This

An absolute sound institution, Peter Guy and the gang continue to keep the city up-to-date with all the latest happenings in the name of music-making support and creative appreciation during lockdown.

Follow Get Into This on Twitter to stay ahead with exclusive interviews and topical discussion, along with breaking news on rescheduled gigs, festival news and track releases.

And join Get Into This for regular appearances on Facebook Live, where this Saturday, 13 June, they’ll be welcoming guests including critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter, Karima Francis; songsmith & performer, Helen McCookerybook; and Phil Noone of Liverpool Audio Network.

Tune into Get Into This Live on Facebook

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

MWO 40th Anniversary Concert at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

The RLPO has kept the symphony going strong in our homes with a host of harmonious archive and live online activity. The orchestra announced the arrival of Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan, set to replace Vasily Petrenko in September 2021, by sharing his Lockdown Listening Playlist, part of a series including Gary Williams, star of the West End’s Rat Pack with a playlist featuring everyone from Frank Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald.

You’ll find a number of RLPO concerts online, from their performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto Nº3 with Nobuyuki Tsujii, highlights from Music Room Performance archives, and appearances from Liverpool String Quartet along with special guests.

Tune into RLPO on Facebook for the latest updates, videos and playlists.

Jimmy’s Liverpool

One of Liverpool’s liveliest hang-outs, Jimmy’s sets the stage for new and up-and-coming artists seven-nights-a-week, and until we can head back to the top of Bold Street to be part of that unmistakable, live atmosphere again, we’ve still been treated to night after night of the best live artists, performing from all over the map, on Jimmy’s Channel from 9pm.

Keep up to date with all the latest gig information available daily on Jimmy’s Liverpool Twitter account. Tune in and turn up the sounds on Jimmy’s Instragram Channel here.

Out Of The Blue Jazz Orchestra

Liverpool’s Out Of The Blue Orchestra collaborated with Jacaranda Records to support the Save Our Venues Campaign with a lockdown rendition of Blue Skies and a homemade video featuring NHS keyworker, Joan Fearon on vocals.

What came out of the collaboration has got to be one of the most magical, musical moments of the city in lockdown, and you can see for yourself as Out Of The Blue perform Blue Skies here

Tune into Out Of The Blue on Facebook for all the latest from the 20-piece orchestra.

Bido Lito!

Liverpool music magazine, Bido Lito! is over 100 editions old! A monthly publication inked straight from the heart of Merseyside’s creative community, during lockdown, the magazine has temporarily become the weekly Bido Bulletin! newsletter.

Highlights from the Bido Lito! Team during former weeks have included the free, Friday Night Live: Bedroom Gigs series. Meanwhile, over on Twitter you can join the region’s independent creative scene with news, reviews, features and comment.

Sign up for Bido Lito! membership to get all the latest news direct and support a great local platform.

Liverpool International Music Festival

Along with taking a look back at LIMF festival highlights and compiling playlists featuring LIMF artists LIMF Facebook and LIMF Twitter, LIMF might not have had a live presence this year, but they’ve kept it loud and proud all over social media.

In April, LIMF Academy Living Room Sessions brought us performances from Alumni including Deliah, Sub Blue and Michael Aldag in the LIMF Living Room Sessions which you can watch here

And later that same month, the Lockdown Collabo Series challenged one past and one present artist to produce a new track within 48-hours charting their journey on the LIMF Academy Instagram with tracks on LIMF Soundcloud.

DJ Lee Butler’s House Party

You can’t keep this DJ far from the decks, and since lockdown measures were put in place, Lee Butler and his wife have welcomed us all over to their place, with Lee Butler’s House Party so far raising over £15k for Liverpool Women’s Big Tiny Steps Appeal, NHS workers & other Liverpool Charities.

Meanwhile, as we wait for news on Reminisce Festival, we’ve been tuning into Fresh Air festival, the stay home, Saturday night live feed bringing together DJs including Lee Butler, Ste Cocky, Mark Armstrong and Lee Morrison delivering live sets with plenty of chat on the fresh air forums.

Liverpool Sound City

The main festival has been moved to September and with a lineup that includes Pale Waves, Friendly Fires and Red Rum Rum Club, how can you possibly miss it?!

For now though over at Sound City, you can discover emerging talent playing live at the Guest House.

Guest House is a space where you can discover and support artists who have been affected by tour and gig cancellations as we wait for vital changes to how we can return to our live venues.

As well as Guest House, Liverpool Sound City on Twitter brings you the latest live debate from behind-the-scenes and the forefront of the music festival, conference and live industry.

LMA Choir

Liverpool Media Academy Choir first grabbed our attention in 2016 with their flash-mob performance of Bruno Mar’s Just The Way You at Liverpool ONE going viral after LMA Creative Director, Stephanie Wallace Carr arranged the surprise for the wife of a friend on their 10th wedding anniversary.

This was followed by an appearance on The X Factor, which gained a new fan in Robbie Williams, who became a co-owner of LMA, with news in May of £15 million expansion plans set to transform part of Liverpool’s Metquarter into a state-of-the-art campus.

This month, as news of George Floyd’s death brought the world together against racial discrimination and police brutality, LMA Choir performed their rendition of Sam Cooke’s classic A Change is Gonna Come from their homes, in support of #BlackLivesMatter.

You can watch lockdown performances from LMA Choir on Facebook and follow LMA Choir on Twitter.

Save Our Venues

The Music Venue Trust launched the nationwide campaign, Save Our Venues, to give local venues a platform for support as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to blight 2020.

All donations are appreciated, with Liverpool’s Phase One, The Jacaranda and Heebie Jeebies just some of the local venues onboard, as supporters perform or view live gigs at home to raise funds and awareness.

You can find out more at Save Our Venues here

Who have you been tuning into during lockdown? Share your favourite streams @TheGuideLpool and let us know if you’ve got an event planned by emailing info@theguideliverpool.com