Morgan Wallen performs at the 2019 CMA Music Festival on June 6, 2019, in Nashville.
Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Tours are cancelled. Festivals are taking summers off. Club gigs aren’t happening. And yet, ironically, music fans are able to see their favourite artists perform more than ever, thanks to virtual tours and unlimited online itineraries.
“Special times need special artistic ideas,” Rufus Wainwright posted on his website recently. He was referring to a series of shows in which he performs every song from his pop-album catalogue, from the first track off his 1998 self-titled debut to the last song from last year’s well-received Unfollow the Rules.
While the awkwardly titled Rufus-Retro-Wainwright-Spective continues this week, rockers Jimmy Eat World kick off a similar series with the first of the three shows devoted to an album from the past. Rising country star Morgan Wallen, on the other hand, sticks to one album with a live show tonight from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium that celebrates the just-out Dangerous: The Double Album.
Morgan Wallen: A mullet with a mission, the 7 Summers singer is Nashville’s new It Boy. The son of a preacher man and unlikely sex symbol presents a full-band performance live from the church of country music. The global livestream Live From the Ryman is free, on Wallen’s Facebook and YouTube accounts, at 9 p.m., on Jan. 12.
Rufus Wainwright: The flamboyantly melodic singer-songwriter continues his album-oriented virtual tour on Jan. 15, when he presents side two of 2007′s Release the Stars from his living room in Los Angeles’s Laurel Canyon. Tickets for the 5 p.m. show go for US$20-$25 at Veeps.
Jimmy Eat World: The emotive Arizonians begin their trio of online concerts devoted to albums from the past at 5 p.m., Jan. 15, when their 10th studio album Surviving gets the live treatment. The series, recorded at the Icehouse in Phoenix, continues on Jan. 29 (2004′s Futures) and Feb. 12 (1999′s Clarity). Tickets start at US$17.50).
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