I Went To My First Online Concert Yesterday, Here’s How It Went
Samantha Colleran, July 2020
A little over a week ago, Liam Payne announced he was putting on a live streamed concert called “The LP Show”. As someone who has been feeling lost without live shows, I of course jumped at the opportunity to go. The concert was streamed through a website called Veeps, and in order to go you had to purchase a ticket at a pay what you want price, starting at $10. Liam rented out an out-of-use venue and hired a band and lighting/sound engineers to give people some work during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A portion of the ticket sales were going to the The Trussell Trust based in the UK, which works to end poverty and hunger. The concert was yesterday (July 17th), and it filled my heart with so much happiness, I can’t wait to tell you all about it!
I was a little worried about how the show would go since it was online, but I was overall so excited to finally see something as close to a live show as I could. I also haven’t seen Liam in person since my last One Direction show in 2015, so feeling as though I got to see him up close and personal was super special. My friend Gracie came over and we watched it together, and of course I treated it like a real concert day by setting a countdown on my phone (8 days, the quickest wait time for a concert I’ve ever had!) and made sure I had a cute outfit to watch the show in.
Since the show was being streamed all over the world, it began at 3pm for my timezone, which is early for a concert, but I was ready to go. I wanted to watch in my backyard in order to feel like I was in an outside venue, but of course with all things technology it kept buffering, so one song in we had to quickly move my laptop up to my room and watch the remainder of the show there.
First of all, Liam was adorable and clearly so excited to be back on stage, which made me so happy to see. He sang a bunch of his singles, including his first single “Strip That Down” ft. Quavo, “Bedroom Floor”, and “For You” ft Rita Ora, as well as “Tell Your Friends” from his debut album LP1 and “Home With You” from his First Time EP. The show started off with Liam introducing everyone watching to the band and some of the crew. We were then taken to the stage, and Liam showed us his little setup which included a soundboard that had a programmed sound of an audience cheering to make it feel more like a live show.
The set was a little shorter than I expected, but I was so happy to get even just an hour of live music. In between the songs Liam stopped to answer some fan questions, since Veeps is an interactive site where you can comment on the livestream as it’s happening. My personal favorite songs of the night were Liam’s most recent single “Midnight” ft. Alesso, “Home With You”, and of course the obligatory One Direction cover, Liam chose to sing “Little Things” and even included the infamous additional lyric during Niall’s solo “Maybe you’ll love yourself like I you sing love you, ooh”! After the show, Liam took us backstage and answered some more fan questions and talked to some other fans who paid a little extra for a bigger ticket bundle via Zoom. Liam’s voice sounded incredible, especially considering the fact he hasn’t performed live in a while. He was clearly so happy to be on stage, Liam’s energy was incredible and I think he’s such an underrated performer and vocalist, which was only proven further with this show.
Yesterday was only the first installment of what Liam is calling “The LP Show”. No official dates are set in place for when more acts will take place, but make sure to follow Liam’s social media accounts to see an announcement for when the next shows will take place! I love that Liam used his platform to give people work, as well as help a charity close to his heart. It was such a fun way to spend an afternoon and I would certainly do it again! Congratulations on the show Liam, I can’t wait to see what future events will bring! Check out Liam’s most recent single, “Midnight” ft. Alesso below! Have you seen a live streamed event recently? Let me know in the comments if you enjoyed it!