Despite concerts being shut down due to COVID-19, musicians have found a way to get the tunes to the people.
And for a good cause.
Barrie’s Live Music Show is a Facebook group that began as a way for local musicians to play for an audience while stuck indoors.
Jake Mathias started the group March 28 and has seen it grow into a musical meeting place.
“The idea was originally thought of as a way for our band to make a little money with all our shows being cancelled, then we realized no one has any money to spend,” Mathias said. “We didn’t want to just not do it because we’ve seen these groups work elsewhere in the country.”
Mathias plays in The Straits, a local seven-piece band who had dates booked from April to December until the current health crisis.
With COVID-19 reaping havoc on many people’s finances, Mathias knew that local charities would also be feeling the crunch.
“We announced that we were collecting money for the Barrie Food Bank and figured we would get a few people sending in money," he told BarrieToday. "We ended up raising $2,265 from last Sunday to this past Sunday.”
This week’s charity, the Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie, was announced Sunday. The target of $1,000 and is almost at $573 at this current writing, with the group sitting at 1,802 people.
“I can’t believe that we are growing so fast. I assumed we’d have a lot of the people following us who come out to our shows, like 100 to 150,” Mathias said. “To have this many people getting involved so soon is a great feeling.”
The format allows anyone to submit their musical talent of any genre (singing, playing an instrument, DJ, etc.) to the group and allow others to enjoy it.
Mathias like what they’re doing, but is hoping for more live performances, possibly from bigger names.
“We had Jason McCoy on recently, which really boosted our numbers with him being a famous country artist,” Mathias said. “I would love to have more big name musicians doing some live sets. I’m trying to reach Tim Hicks, but haven’t been able to get him yet.”
Musicians are not allowed to sell items or services on a group page, but are more than willing to attach links to their websites in their performance.
“Hopefully, out of this, many really good artists get the recognition they deserve, but at the same time we want to be able to help as many charities as we can while this virus situation is happening.”
Check out Barrie’s Live Music Show at their Facebook group page.
