The Best Livestream Concerts This Week

We usually share lists of the upcoming concerts scheduled for New York City and Los Angeles, but there haven’t been too many of those lately since the coronavirus outbreak has forced artists to cancel shows. That said, there’s still live music, it’s just different than it usually is: Several artists have started performing live stream concerts from their homes, allowing fans to tune in to free shows online and pass the time with these virtual gigs.

These newly popular types of performances yielded some memorable moments lately and will likely continue to do so. Below, check out a list of the best upcoming live stream performances, and below that, find our recap of the finest shows that have already happened.

Updated: March 30, 2020

Coming up

• Aminé: Tuesday, March 31 at 5:10 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Ben Gibbard: Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on YouTube.
• Big Freedia: Fridays at 9 p.m. EST on Facebook and Instagram.
• Charli XCX: Vocal coaching with Tove Lo on Monday, March 30 at 3 p.m. EST; life drawing with Lucas David on Tuesday, March 31 at 3 p.m. EST; yoga with Ashnikko on Wednesday, April 1 at 3 p.m. EST; psychopath test with Rina Sawayama on Thursday, April 2 at 3 p.m. EST; horoscope reading with Orville Peck on Friday, April 3 at 3 p.m. EST; and make up tutorial with Zara Larsson on Saturday, April 4 at 3 p.m. EST; all on Instagram.
• Christine And The Queens: Daily at 1 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Diet Cig (Indie Mixtape Sessions): Monday, March 30 at 12:30 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Diplo: Sundays at 4 p.m. EST, Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST, Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST, Fridays at 10 EST, Saturdays at 11 p.m. EST; on YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram.
• DJ Shadow: Tuesday, March 31 at 11:10 a.m. EST via The Fader.
• Dogleg: Tuesday, March 31 at 2:10 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Earthgang: Tuesday, March 31 at 5:50 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Field Medic (Indie Mixtape Sessions): Monday, March 30 at 4:30 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Finneas: Tuesday, March 31 at 5 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• G Herbo: Tuesday, March 31 at 1:30 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Girlpool: Tuesday, March 31 at 1:50 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Half Waif: Tuesday, March 31 at 1:10 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Hinds: Tuesday, March 31 at 11:50 a.m. EST via The Fader.
• Hozier: Friday, April 3 at 5 p.m. EST on Facebook.
• Jessie Reyez: Tuesday, March 31 at 2 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Kesha: Tuesday, March 31 at 4 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Mark Twang (Indie Mixtape Sessions): Monday, March 30 at 12:30 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Miley Cyrus: Weekdays at 2:30 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Moaning (Indie Mixtape Sessions): Wednesday, April 1 at 3 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Neil Young: Semi-regularly, TBA.
• Porches: Tuesday, March 31 at 12:50 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Smino: Tuesday, March 31 at 3:30 p.m. EST via The Fader.
• Talker (Indie Mixtape Sessions): Monday, March 30 at 3 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Tayla Parx: Monday, March 30 at 3 p.m. EST on Instagram.
• Third Man Public Access: Daily at 1 p.m. EST on YouTube.
• Young Guv (Indie Mixtape Sessions): Monday, April 6 at 3 p.m. EST on Instagram.

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Ben Gibbard

March 29: Death Cab For Cutie leader Ben Gibbard has so far led the charge when it comes to quarantine live streams, but on Sunday, he hosted the last one and sent the series off with covers of Neil Young, R.E.M., and others. No need to fret, though: While the daily series is going away, Gibbard has promised live streams once a week for “every week into the foreseeable future as long as people are quarantined.”

The-Dream and Sean Garrett

March 28: Following his beat battle with Timbaland, Swizz Beats decided to give songwriters a moment to shine, so he hosted a face-off between two of today’s finest. The main takeaway from the songwriter battle between The-Dream and Sean Garrett is that those two have had their hands in a lot of big songs from artists like Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, Usher, and others.

Twitch Stream Aid

March 28: Twitch is set-up to shine in a time when live streams are as popular as ever, and they delivered this weekend. Their “Twitch Stream Aid” benefit show had a huge lineup that featured Diplo, Lauv, Charlie Puth, Die Antwoord, Barry Gibb, Kevin Gates, Jordin Sparks, Michael McDonald, Steve Aoki, Scotty McCreery, MonstaX, and Mxmtoon, as well as members of Cage The Elephant, The Chainsmokers, Bastille, The Head And The Heart, Silversun Pickups, The Lumineers, OneRepublic, Mt. Joy, Empire Of The Sun, X Ambassadors, and Young The Giant.

TikTok #HappyAtHome: Sound Check

March 27: TikTok has been keeping shortform video viewers entertained with a packed week of programming, but Friday was for the music fans. The lineup for the “Sound Check” day of #HappyAtHome included Alicia Keys, Jason Derulo, Megan Thee Stallion, Hailee Steinfeld, Troye Sivan, Meghan Trainor, DJ Khaled, Lauv, Yungblud, and Kelsea Ballerini.

Boi-1da And Hit-Boy

March 27: Hit-Boy and Boi-1da are two terrific producers to have square off in an Instagram beat battle, and that’s partially because of their willingness to show off their works in progress. Aside from their hits, the livestream also teased new material from Drake, Big Sean, Nipsey Hussle, and others.

Dirty Projectors

March 27: Dirty Projectors dropped a new EP, Windows Open, on Friday, so band members Dave Longstreth and Maia Friedman decided to celebrate with a live stream. Although the pair was in separate cities for the broadcast, it went off without a hitch as the two performed a set featuring the four new tracks, as well as some covers and tracks from the band’s catalog.

300 Entertainment “Unplugged”

March 26: 300 Entertainment is one of the biggest labels in music, and now they’re hoping to similarly position themselves in the new world of live stream concerts with their virtual “Unplugged” show. The series “[originated] from live stripped-down, spontaneous sessions at 300 Entertainment co-founder and CEO Kevin Liles’ hotel lobbies throughout the years,” and the first one was led by singer/songwriter Cobi. 300 has a stacked artist roster, so keep an eye on this series.

Swizz Beats and Timbaland

March 24: Two of hip-hop’s biggest production titans hopped on an Instagram Live session to face off and remind fans how great their respective discographies are. Between Swizz and Timbaland, they played songs like Ginuwine’s “Pony,” Beyonce’s “Drunk In Love,” Ne-Yo’s “Make Me Better,” Drake’s “Fancy,” DMX’s “Party (Up In Here),” Jay-Z’s “On To The Next One,” and so many more.

Orville Peck

March 23: Masked singer Orville Peck let viewers into his home during his live stream, but he wasn’t about to pull the curtain back on the mystery that is him. The live stream was in celebration of the one-year anniversary of his latest album, Pony, and highlights from the set included a new song called “Summertime” and a tribute to the recently deceased Kenny Rogers via a cover of “Islands In The Stream.”

Courtney Barnett

March 22 and 23: “Courtney Barnett And Lucius & Friends” took place all around the world, and Barnett wrangled some great guests for the two days of program. Stopping by the shows were Sheryl Crow, Nathaniel Rateliff, Lukas Nelson, Fred Armisen, Emily King, Sharon Van Etten, Bedouine, Jonathan Wilson, Waxahatchee, Kevin Morby, and Kurt Vile.

Charli XCX

March 18 to 22: Charli has taken a different path with her livestreams: Instead of music performances, she has brought on a number of guests for a variety of programming. For example, last week, she hosted an art class with Clairo, played “Would You Rather” with Kim Petras, and had “An Emo Chat” with Christine And The Queens.

Ben Gibbard

March 15 to 21: The Death Cab For Cutie leader has been one of the most active livestreamers so far, as he is in the midst of a series of daily performances. This past week saw Gibbard cover Radiohead and New Order, as well as perform some material from his other most notable musical endeavor, The Postal Service.

Erykah Badu

March 19: Badu hosted an “interactive live stream experience” this past weekend, which allowed fans (who paid the $1 entry fee) to not only watch Badu perform from her bedrom, but also help build the setlist.

D-Nice

March 18: The hip-hop icon hosted “Club Quarantine” editions of his weekly “Home School” live stream this weekend, and the list of celebrities who popped in during the show speaks for itself: Michelle Obama, Alicia Keys, Diddy, Oprah, Will Smith, Missy Elliott, Janet Jackson, Common, John Legend, Big Daddy Kane, Mariah Carey, Spike Lee, Donnie Wahlberg, Brandy, Quincy Jones, Timbaland, Usher, Questlove, Jadakiss, and Raekwon, among many others.

Charlie Puth

March 18: Charlie Puth was one of the artists who carried on the Chris Martin-launched “Together At Home” series. Puth sat at his home piano and busted out a number of songs, including “Attention,” “One Call Away,” and “See You Again.”

Jeff Rosenstock and more

March 17: Record label/shop Specialist Subject hosted a night of music from a jam-packed indie lineup, with was led by Jeff Rosenstock and also featured AJJ, RVIVR’s Erica Freas, and others.

Chris Martin of Coldplay

March 16: Martin is the one who kicked off the “Together At Home” live stream concert series, which has gone on to feature performances from artists like Charlie Puth and John Legend. For Martin’s performance, he busted out some Coldplay favorites and a David Bowie cover, and also answered questions from Instagram Live viewers.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.