DIY teamed up with independent music distributor and production company The state51 Conspiracy for Hello 2021, a series of streamed live performances, to promote some of the best new UK artists of the moment.
The live shows, aired throughout January, follow on from DIY’s annual live series, which ordinarily takes place at East London’s Old Blue Last venue. However, after it became clear that COVID restrictions would mean the shows could no longer go ahead in person, DIY and state51 joined forces to keep the live series going in the state51 Factory, a private performance and production space with 4K online streaming capability. Filming for the performances has taken place in a COVID-secure environment.
Broadcast every Tuesday across January – mirroring the previous years’ high profile free live events – the performance streams showcased music from twelve brilliant new artists, including Oscar Lang, Master Peace, Yard Act, Sinead O’Brien and many more. Each show included three artists and was be aired on state51’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/state51 at 7pm, and amplified across DIY’s online channels.
Speaking of the Hello 2021 series, Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor of DIY commented: “After a year like 2020, where gigs and festivals have been entirely put on hold and music fans everywhere are desperate for some live music, we’re thrilled to have been able to work with state51 to ensure our Hello live series can go ahead next year. We’re also super excited to be giving some incredible new acts the chance to perform live, and introduce a whole new raft of fans to their music.”
William Reid, Creative Director at The state51 Conspiracy has said: “It’s been such a blast welcoming these talented artists, their managers and labels to the state51 Factory and produce our series of videos with the DIY team. The challenge to every artist was to perform a set in a single take, with no overdubs and no edits. Every time we ran the cameras, a little bit of magic happened and we can’t wait for people to experience what we did in the state51 Factory, reminding us all about the power of live music and performance.”