With gigs cancelled across the UK and the world, musicians are finding it tough to perform.
An international group on Facebook Rock the Lockdown, which schedules and runs live Facebook musical events, inspired one Aberdeenshire woman to create her own more local version.
Veronica Largue, who created the group, explained: “I had watched some of Rock the Lockdown and really liked what they had done. But I realised that there were so many people trying to perform that the chances of anyone from this area getting on were really slim.
“So I created the Lockdown Live Aberdeenshire group on Mother’s Day while I was getting breakfast in bed! I was the only person in there for most of the day, but I recruited my friend’s sister, Marie, and she agreed to help.
“Within 24 hours we had over 600 members and now we have over 34,000!”
To begin with, it was going to be a very local group, but there was such strong interest Veronica, Marie and the rest of the admin team running the group decided to widen it out a bit.
“Initially it was going to be just for Inverurie performers, but it grew and grew and now it’s the whole of Aberdeenshire.”
Lockdown Live Aberdeenshire hosts evening sessions and showcases and weekend events for musicians to play sets for group members using Facebook’s live streaming function.
“It’s a lot of work,” Veronica added, “and thankfully Marie had some experience of open mic nights so she initially took the lead organising the line up for our first weekend event, while the rest of us moderated the page. She’s also become the face of Lockdown Live, presenting when needed.
“But since then, I’ve started running some of the events and it takes a lot!”
Before every event, Veronica sets up the performers in a dummy group so they can test using Facebook Live and ensure their equipment is properly set up. Then she has a group chat to pass on any necessary information and stay in touch with the performers.
“It’s a lot of fun!” She said. “Because I’m a self-employed cleaner I’m not working just now, and my four kids don’t always want mum trying to join in what they are doing! So it’s great to have something to do, especially at night.
“Plus, I really wanted to do something for the local community and it seems to be helping people in a lot of ways including their mental health, connecting people together and even giving performers a platform.
“We’ve even had members contact performers about them playing gigs or at weddings after the lockdown ends, which is great because they can’t earn any money right now.”
Veronica said that some performers find playing in Lockdown Live a bit more nerve-wracking because there’s no audience there to react.
“They are used to immediate responses to their songs so this is out of their comfort zone.
“We switch off commenting during performances so that it is the sole focus of the group, but we encourage people to hit the heart button at the end of the songs and are using that as a symbol of clapping and enthusiasm.”
Keeping the group positive is something that the admin team strive hard to achieve.
“For a group with over 34,000 members, we actually don’t have many problems. But if anyone is negative or nasty, they get blocked straight away.
“We fully support all of our acts and we understand that without them, there might be a group but it wouldn’t be a successful one!
“After every event we make a point of putting up a thank you message.
“However, we do have a rule – no politics. That’s where problems tend to start.”
The performances are family friendly, so people in lockdown together can enjoy the musicians doing their stuff.
“We are continuing to grow and develop as the lockdown goes on, so we might add in some different types of acts or increase how many events we do.”
And after the lockdown ends?
“I can see the group continuing in one form or another, because it’s a great way to see local acts if you are looking for a wedding band. And it could be used by musicians to promote gigs when they start again.
“It’ll probably not be as busy as it is now, but I don’t see it ending.”
You can find the group on Facebook at Lockdown Live Aberdeenshire.
