Jason Isbell to launch new album this Friday with live streamed gig from Nashville
The Brooklyn Bowl will be empty save for the performers.
Image: Jason Kempin / Getty
Jason Isbell is to release his new record, Reunions, this Friday (15 May), and will celebrate the launch with a live performance from Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl venue. The Brooklyn Bowl was due to reopen this spring, but March’s tornado in Nashville and the coronavirus pandemic has meant it has had to delay reopening to the public.
Isbell’s wife and bandmate, Amanda Shires, will be joining for the performance, which will take place in front of an empty venue. The acoustic concert will, however, be live streamed, airing on fans.com at 8 PM ET. Viewers will be encouraged to make donations, which will go to Isbell’s touring crew, and to the MusiCare COVID-19 Relief Fund.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s last record was 2017’s The Nashville Sound, itself preceded by 2015’s Something More Than Free. Reunions has already been released to a select group of fans, having dropped last week on 8 May to those who ordered it from independent record stores.
The concert is one of many live streamed gigs to be taking place as in-person live music is placed on hold by coronavirus, however is notable in that it’s being broadcast from a music venue rather than a home. Relatedly, Live Nation said it would be testing ‘fanless shows’ – with CEO Michael Rapino saying: “Whether it’s in Arkansas or a state that is safe, secure and politically is fine to proceed in, we’re going to dabble in fanless concerts with broadcasts, we’re going to go and do reduced capacity shows because we can make the math work.”
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