Living Room Concerts: Fighting for Madrid’s artists with virtual concerts, small gatherings and more

Madrid music artists need your help! The five-year-old concert experience project Living Room Concerts had to cancel their entire spring season of in-person live concerts and did a reboot to online interactive virtual concerts. They have refocused their aim to focus on independent singer-songwriters, bands, composers and musicians who make their living mainly or solely from their music and who are now struggling.

The struggle is very real with the entire arts and entertainment industry for these performers to pay rent, bills and buy food. Living Room Concerts (LRC) made a full pivot to online concerts but we will begin having small concerts in open-air spaces this summer. To ensure the safety of those who would like to attend, we will follow strict protocol in regards to gatherings.

In the beginning of the pandemic, LRC took two months off to develop an online model that allows for live-streamed performances while keeping the key aspect of the experience—bringing people together to socialize and meet new friends. Another important aspect that was incorporated was to make it a ticketed event that would both support the artists and give people a private virtual space to interact with other people in an intimate and relaxed atmosphere.

Many music artists were and still are giving their art away for free online, and this is a battle Living Room Concerts has been fighting on behalf of music artists for five years now…

LRC strives to educate the public in understanding that making and performing music is a job, and that job should be compensated, not just in promotion, but with money—just like anyone else with a job. They have always priced their concert experiences very reasonably to make them as accessible and affordable as possible to all.

LRC is committed to highlighting music performers and entertainers in Madrid (or who have once lived in Madrid) in their regular concerts in-person and online. Concerts will be held all through June and into July. August is not yet decided, but in September they will return to a full programmed fall schedule, beginning the sixth series of the project. Concerts will be a mix of small in-person gatherings and virtual live streaming as needed.

Karla, LRC virtual concert attendee, says:

This was one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in a long time. Who knew a livestream could be so much fun… I loved the intimacy, the collaborations, the stories. The (virtual) hugs!!! #mustdoagain

Upcoming show with Feroza Cayetano

This Saturday, talented singer-songwriter, entertainer and performer Feroza Cayetano is performing a full virtual concert. In her music you will find strength, peace, love, beauty, an appreciation of self and the world, shelter from the storm. You can watch a video of Feroza performing here.

Feroza Cayetano is a singer-songwriter whose roots are in Central America. Originally from Belize by way of Honduras and Guatemala, she has spent much of her life living as a foreigner in foreign lands—Jamaica, the US, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago and now Spain. Her experiences of “otherness” had a deep emotional impact, and it was through song and melody that she learned to understand and harness her emotions.

With her guitar as her main medium, she write songs that come from the depths of her soul—songs of healing, light and darkness. Feroza writes about her personal truths and struggles with the hope that she is not alone in her feelings. Feroza believes in creating space for introspection and healing, and she encourages listeners to encounter their own emotions through hers.

She has been featured at the Belize International Yoga Festival 2017, the New Fire Festival 2018 and has performed on many platforms across the Caribbean. Two weeks ago, Feroza was interviewed on live TV for the Open Your Eyes morning show in Belize, her homeland, talking about her latest single, “Prayer Song”, her Garifuna roots, her creative process during the lockdown in Spain, and the process of working on her upcoming album.

Feroza and the organizers at Living Room Concerts understand that everyone is itching to be outside after so many days inside, so they have three viewing options for attendees to help them support the project and the artist to keep both going.

Viewing options:

1. Full Immersion 

  • Join the livestream, participate in the online chat or organize a small watchparty with friends in-person in accordance with Madrid’s rules on gatherings.

2. Just Listening

  • Watch the livestream only. The same as above but skip the online chat either at home or wherever you go with your mobile device.

3. Watch Later

  • See the live recording of the concert later at your convenience.

All you need to do is to click the ticket link in the Facebook event to join concert-goers from all over the world online and support this incredible independent music artist by attending her live broadcast livestream show this Saturday.

A history of the live concert series and new horizons

Living Room Concerts began as a members-only music group on Meetup of 2000+ members and hail from all different walks of life in Madrid, connected by our love and desire for indie singer-songwriters creating and performing their own original compositions for us. They ask unknown, little known, emerging, up-and-coming artists to come perform acoustic unplugged intimate concerts in private homes and unique spaces with attendance maximums of 20–50 people, depending on the size of the host’s space.

The LRC Meetup group was started in June 2015 with three purposes in mind. The first is to discover new original music. The second is to remove the stage and have a more direct interaction and connection between performer and audience. The third is to create a space where concert-goers can meet new people and form genuine connections.

Over a year later they created a Facebook page, Instagram account, and brought the option of attending to AirBnB Experiences. They were one of the first three music experiences in Madrid to appear on the AirBnB platform for the region.

And now that Living Room Concerts has moved their unique experience to the virtual world, they continue to bring the same intimate experience that made the unique experience so special and loved in the first place. Also, Living Room Concerts has some other offshoot branches with city- or country-specific focus on its roster for 2020: Tiny Kitchen Concerts, Living Room Concerts NYC, Living Room Concerts Dubai, Living Room Concerts Amsterdam and Living Room Concerts Turkey. 

Tiny Kitchen Concerts: baking and music combined

The first Tiny Kitchen Concert scheduled is to happen this Sunday at 6pm Madrid-time and is open to the international online backing and music-loving community. Living Room Concerts has teamed up with three other collaborators to offer a new international virtual experience of an integrated baking class and music concert, combined. Here’s the event link on Facebook: Baking an Orange Rose Bud Tart // Tiny Kitchen Concert LIVEstream

The experience takes those bits of time to rest, chill in the fridge or baking in the oven and fills those moments in with a live music performance and opportunities for conversation with other people in the class. Attendees can get to know people who share their same passions—music, baking and more. With this first offering, the dish is an original recipe of an Orange Rose Bud Tart created by chef Florence Elisabeth of Slowpastry, and the original music of singer-songwriter Spencer Ayscue of the Americana band Migrant Birds who will be streaming and playing live direct from his kitchen in Winston-Salem North Carolina.

What do an entertainer from North Carolina (US) and a French pastry chef have in common?

Spencer, who once lived in Madrid, and was a part of the emerging singer-songwriter music scene, performed for Living Room Concerts in 2015 and 2016 and was one of the first six concerts that helped LRC become what it is today. Chef Florence Elizabeth is a French pastry chef who lives here in Madrid and is a member of Valentina Ruffoni‘s group Eat In Madrid to which Nichole Hastings of Living Room Concerts also belongs.

Singer-songwriter Spencer says:

Some songs are enjoyable because of a catchy melody, and some because of good beat or riff, but it seems like the songs that really stick with you, the ones that come to you in the quiet moments or the raw moments, are the ones whose lyrics mean something, that tell a story or strike that emotional chord.

Chef Florence says:

My goal is to transmit my passion for high-quality pastry and demonstrate its power to create connections!

The organizing team of Tiny Kitchen Concerts believe that food and music bring people together, create connections, and those moments mean everything … their memories stay with you like the last note of a song hanging in the air which lingers like a delicious flavor on your tongue.

For those who want a next-level virtual experience where you get the benefit of learning to bake a French pastry dish from a French pastry chef, hear some new and original music, and meet interesting people from all over the world, need only to visit the website to see the full description of the experience and register.

Living Room Concerts around the world

The other four offshoot branches—Living Room Concerts NYC, Living Room Concerts Dubai, and Living Room Concerts Turkey, Living Room Concerts Amsterdam—are currently in development, with a focus on jazz music with artists who have been out of work since the beginning of lockdowns due to the pandemic crisis, and will be releasing virtual concert experiences soon.

A live virtual festival, Yalla Festival will kick off the concert series in Dubai on July 10th and 11th. Announcements for all of these will be made on the LRC’s website, Facebook and Instagram. Stay tuned, follow them on social media, Bookmark their website or sign up for an experience today!

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LRC social media & websites:

By Nichole Hastings

You can connect with Nichole on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter. Here’s Nichole’s website (her ceramic artist page). 

Feature image by @TillyMayPhotography: Facebook, Instagram & Website