My last show before quarantine
Quarantine…how crazy is life right now?! It’s been such a bizarre time for everyone, and in particular quite the tricky time for musicians. On March 11, I had the awesome opportunity to play House of Blues San Diego opening for VERITE. I flew down a couple of days early to explore San Diego a bit. I hadn’t been to San Diego in awhile so it was a lot of fun walking around the city, and having some great Mexican food that San Diego is known for. In the days leading up to the show, news about various events being canceled was starting to spread. I was worried mine would get canceled too, but luckily show day came around and it was still on.
On show days I am 100% focused on the show. After warming up and getting ready, I arrived at the venue a couple hours early. The green room at House of Blues San Diego was enormous and beautiful! It was downstairs, underneath the Voodoo Room. All 3 of the artists shared the space so it was nice to hang out and get to know each other. I sound checked, grabbed my throat coat tea, put on my dress, and headed up to perform my show!
It was such a great crowd, super fun energy, and I was pleased that some people knew my songs already and were singing along. I always head to my merch booth after I finish performing, and it’s so much fun getting to chat with so many of you there.
While the concert seemed normal, it was actually really weird behind the scenes. Though social distancing hadn’t started yet, people had already started to take super careful precautions to not risk getting coronavirus. I gave no handshakes or hugs, only elbow bumps, and avoided touching door handles as much as possible. I wiped down everything (chairs, tables, equipment, my laptop, etc.) with sanitary wipes. And I washed my hands or hand sanitized CONSTANTLY, any time I had to touch anything. Flying back home was also really bizarre—the airport was empty, very few people on my flight, and more wiping down of seats/hand sanitizing.
The next day, life changed. The major promoters of shows in the US had issued a joint statement that they were postponing all shows and tours indefinitely. I was supposed to play a show the following day which was canceled. The rest of VERITE’s tour was canceled. Now for the past 2 months, we’ve been sheltering in place in California, which means I basically haven’t left the house at all. As a musician, I’ve been figuring out how to best spend my time when I can’t play any shows. For me, that’s meant doing a lot of livestreaming and songwriting. I also totally am aware that we have it much better than many professions in these times. And I am also so appreciative of all those front-line workers who have sacrificed to keep us all safer.
The weirdest thing for me is having no idea how long it will be until we can play shows again. In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying connecting on Instagram live and getting to know more of you virtually. But boy, do I miss live shows!
