The Covent Garden Social Club – a cocktail bar and theatre club in the heart of London’s West End, situated above the Arts Theatre in Leicester Square – recently launched a series of ‘Piano Party’ live performances in the venue’s bar, in the wake of the anticipated 1 August start date for live indoor performances with social distancing.
In the wake of the pause announced by Boris Johnson on 31 July, the organisers had to find innovative ways to adapt to ensure they still go ahead, and are now live streaming the pianists – including Michael G. Moore, Sean O’Keating, Chris Mars and Alan Teamur– who play live from an upstairs rehearsal room, with the performances projected on to the black and gold cladded stage, so that guests can still request songs from the artists who’re performing, just 15 ft above it.
Director JJ Goodman stated, “It’s a shame that we can’t get more clarity from the powers that be, but we need to get our artists, as well as our mixologists back to work. This pandemic has been devastating, and for no two industries more than bars and theatres. Unfortunately, we happen to be both. We can’t wait for our bars to return to normal, we miss doing our jobs, and that’s simply making people happy, and feel normal again”.
On the effect of the live stream vs normal live performance JJ said, “it’s different of course, but our guests will still love it! I think we are currently the only venue in the country able to support live music, which is crazy to imagine! That’s a lot of musicians out of work, so we all need the support of the public more than ever at the moment – we hope they’ll come and have a drink, and enjoy something as close to live performance as we can manage currently”.
Tickets to the “piano party sessions”, which are currently available to book Thursday, Friday and Saturdays until 29 August, are £10, which includes a free cocktail on arrival.
Future plans for the venue, when government guidelines allow, include cabaret performances on Monday evenings and comedy on Sunday evenings, and the award-winning Basement Bar to re-open in September – further details to be announced.
Piano Party Sessions are available to book here.
