By David Hennessy
An Irish musician is playing to audiences all over the world by playing in virtual pubs from his sitting room.
Although based in Bulgaria, Jamie McDonald has played to audiences in New York and the UK on his World Tour Of Nowhere 2020.
Jamie told The Irish World: “I noticed that there’s online bars so the more I looked at them, I thought, ‘You can’t have pubs if there’s no music. So if there’s online bars, I’m going to play in them’.
“That was where the idea of the tour started. I could play everyday on my page but there’s only so many times you can say hi to your mammy, right?
“I can also meet new people. That’s why it’s like a tour. Every week I find new places. I’m still figuring it out too because it’s completely different from your normal gig, it’s a different performance. You want to interact but you’re also aware that your interaction is limited.
“People are really hungry to connect, I think more so than ever. There seems to be a great sense of camaraderie.
Everyone’s looking after each other which is kind of nice.
“I’m really happy that I can connect with people.
“I’m aware of the isolation people may be feeling so when someone has a request, I kind of think, ‘This is a bit more than the usual Saturday night ‘I want to hear Wonderwall’ request’. This is probably, ‘I need this request in my life right now. I need to know someone is hearing me and doing something for me’.”
Originally from Carlow, Jamie now has plans to get to Australia, a place he has never been to in real life.
” I should be able to get all the way across the world which is pretty cool. The place I’m trying to get into is Australia and I wouldn’t be risking getting bittten by all those weird creatures they have down there either.”
If you would like to Jamie to play for your virtual group, contact him on his Facebook page here.
