COVID and the Absence of Live Music

COVID and the Absence of Live Music

The COVID-19 pandemic obviously took away many forms of entertainment that people could no longer go out and enjoy. This included going to the movies, sports games, and especially concerts. In the past, people have used music to help bring awareness to an issue that was greater than the music itself like the Live Aid concert from the 1980s. Since the pandemic prevented any kind of live performances from happening, I thought it would be interesting to explore how the absence of live music affected people throughout 2020 and into 2021. This collection offers a glimpse at what the pandemic was like for musicians and what methods they had to use in order to get their music out to the public. This collection primarily uses items from the band Diet Lite, an alternative rock band that is based in Milwaukee. I chose to use items from this band because they had moved to Milwaukee just before the start of the pandemic and were gearing up to release their debut album. Despite the fact that the pandemic forced music venues to close their doors, Diet Lite made it their goal to get their name out there by any means necessary. This included things like creating humorous promotional ads about their new album and streaming live shows over YouTube. There are also other items that highlight the absence of live music such as the updated concert ad event schedule for the Rave for 2020/2021 as well as various social media posts. This collection will hopefully shed some light on both the struggles and the creativity that bands underwent over the course of the pandemic.

David Zeh

Spring 2021

David Zeh