Juno Award-winning folk country band, the Good Lovelies, are getting ready to bring their traditional Christmas tour to a new virtual world.
Their Ottawa show will take place Dec. 13, and will be hosted virtually by the National Arts Centre (NAC). The show will be one of 10 performances over eight days, from the same studio space near Toronto. Other virtual stops will include cities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
Since forming in 2006, the Canadian roots-pop band—composed of lead vocalists Kerri Ough, Sue Passmore, Caroline Brooks and their accompanying band—have accomplished a lot.
In 13 years, the group has recorded four studio albums, two Christmas collections, two EPs, a live album, and a chart-topping single.
Before entering the holiday season, the Good Lovelies were faced with figuring out how to tackle their traditional holiday tour—pandemic-style. Ough said the decision to go ahead with touring virtually came somewhat naturally.
“This Christmas tour has been in our band’s life for over a decade. So if we were ever going to move a tour virtually, it was going to be this one,” Ough said. “We knew it’d be the dead of winter, people weren’t going to be at their cottages, people were going to be at home.”
The tour will be the first event of this scale to be presented on the NAC’s new streaming platform, after its launch only weeks ago. As the host venue, every show will be streamed through the NAC’s digital platform.
Heather Gibson is the executive producer of Popular Music and Variety at the NAC. She said even though the NAC will be the streaming platform for the entire tour, they are only involved in marketing and ticketing for the Ottawa show.
“Those other presenters are also using our digital platform because most performing arts centers or venues don’t have such a thing,” Gibson said. “We’re responsible to stream the shows for the other performing art centres whose audience will access those specific shows by purchasing specific tickets for those times.”
In the future, Gibson predicts this streaming service will become a very significant part of NAC programming as a performing arts centre under pandemic restrictions.
Determined to ignite a sense of community while remaining in their one recording location, the band has partnered with a different local venue and charity for each of their virtual shows.
Ough said the Good Lovelies want to give back by supporting the local venues they would usually visit and donating portions of their ticket sales to local charities.
Their choice for their Ottawa show, Ottawa Riverkeeper, is an organization that preserves the Ottawa River and surrounding watersheds. Ough said the mission is one that the band felt aligned closely with their own mission to offset their carbon footprint by planting trees through album sales.
Matthew Brocklehurst, communications manager at Ottawa Riverkeeper, said programs such as the organization’s pollution hotline and riverwatchers network are supported by unrestricted funds, such as donations.
He also said the importance of these programs has grown since the pandemic forced them to cancel many of their educational programs.
“The main thing I’d say that has been the most obvious impact is that it’s been really hard to get people together to do group activities towards protecting the river,” Brocklehurst said.
Remembering an oil spill in the Ottawa River during the winter of 2018, Brocklehurst said even in the winter months, it’s important for people to still be thinking of the health of their waterways.
“The river is important year-round,” he said.
Due to this new virtual format, fans are experiencing a more customizable experience. Not only can they choose what showtime suits them best to tune into from their living room, but they could also pick a show based on their personal values.
“You can pick a charity that you feel aligned to because they’re gonna get a portion of your ticket sale. You can pick a town you really love and that you sort of identify with, you could come see our Australia show, but that’s five in the morning Eastern Standard Time,” Ough said.
With the first show approaching on Dec. 10, Ough said she has strategies for looking beyond the plexiglass and physically-distanced space between her and her bandmates while on stage.
“I have to go into my imagination and picture the crowd, picture the room we were supposed to be in, point out some things I would have remembered from old tours. So it’s gonna take a lot more psychic energy to do these, I think,” she said.
Despite the tour’s global reach, the Good Lovelies hope their community-driven approach has the unifying effect they’re aiming for.
“There’s a lot of love to go around for spreading,” Ough said.
Featured image by Ali Eisner.
