Couldn’t make it to all 500 shows we hosted last month? Us neither! That’s why we asked our city leaders around the world for the artist that stood out most to them at their June shows. Grab your headphones and press play on our Now Playing Spotify playlist. Hit “Follow” to stay updated each month with the latest picks.
Time flies when you’re discovering great music! As we pause at the midway point of 2019, we’re looking back on some of our favorite videos of the year (so far…):
As you can imagine at a company focused on giving rising artists a platform, we listen to a whole lot of music. For our seasonal music preview, the Sofar team is sharing the new artists we’ve got on repeat as we dig in this summer.
These artists are a mix of Sofar alumni and artists who haven’t played Sofar (yet!). The thing they all have in common? We’re major fans.
There’s more to Southern California than just Los Angeles. San Gabriel Valley is the area east of LA, encompassing towns like Pasadena and Pomona. The birthplace of In-N-Out and Trader Joe’s, San Gabriel Valley also has a deep-rooted Asian American community. We started hosting Sofars there just over a year ago, and now City Leader Jake is sharing his favorite under-the-radar spots with us, along with some artist highlights in a special City Spotlight playlist:
What’s better than playing one Sofar? Playing four Sofars on a mini-Sofar tour, of course! That’s just what British acts Belle Mt and Arctic Lake did in late May across North UK in York, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield. Each Sofar also featured a third artist unique to that city – Jess Jayne in York, Rhiannon Scutt in Sheffield, Heju in Leeds and Before Breakfast in Manchester.
Leeds team member and former York city leader Stefan spearheaded the tour after an inspiring powwow the teams had together when they first met at the European city leader meetup last year in Germany.
British singer-songwriter Josh Savage is one of our most-traveled alumni and has played some of the most Sofars around the world! Besides his native UK, he’s also played in Russia, Guatemala, Canada, Portugal, the U.S., Germany, Greece, France... and the list goes on. He’s also worn another hat in the Sofar community, as founder of Sofar Winchester and Sofar Southampton in the past.
He talks to us about the most memorable Sofar moments and the power of coming together globally:
With hundreds of shows around the world each month, countless memorable moments happen at Sofar. Here are just a few of the special shows we put on in the past few weeks, in addition to our Pride shows still happening!
A special Pride show requires a special venue. For one of Sofar Boston's three Pride shows, they hosted at the Arlington Street Church. The historic Unitarian Universalist Church was home to the first same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and first legal same-sex marriage in a church in the U.S. in 2004, making it the perfect place for us to celebrate our LGBTQ+ community! We chatted with Reverend Beth Robbins and Reverend Kim Crawford Harvie about the amazing history of the church and the ideals of community:
The massive, legendary European festival Glastonbury kicks off later this week. We’re thrilled to see a few dozen familiar faces on the lineup, including Jorja Smith, Hot Chip, Lucy Rose and James Morrison, to name a few. Here are 19 Sofar alumni to keep your eyes on at Glasto in 2019!
This year, Sofar Washington, D.C. is hosting its two Pride shows at some extra special spaces in D.C.’s craft beverage scene – Republic Restoratives, a small batch, queer women-owned distillery and cocktail bar, and Red Bear Brewing Co., D.C.'s only 100 percent gay-owned brewery. We chat with Republic Restoratives’ GM & Events Director, Kate, and Red Bear’s Owner and Director of Business Development & Marketing, Bryan, about inclusivity in hospitality, their beginnings, and what makes them proud:
Couldn’t make it to all 500 shows we hosted last month? Us neither! That’s why we asked our city leaders around the world for the artist that stood out most to them at their May shows, including the many Sofar Turns 10 shows. Grab your headphones and press play on our Now Playing Spotify playlist. Hit “Follow” to stay updated each month with the latest picks.
Four performances with Sofar London under her belt, Stars Walker, lead singer of soulful rock band Bang Bang Romeo, is taking the world by storm. Just weeks before the band sets off to support P!nk on her European tour, Stars talks with us about living in Yorkshire, being an out and proud lesbian artist, and celebrating the iconic music of Queen:
Hear us loud and queer! We’re celebrating Pride this June and July in a big way – with 25+ Pride shows around the world. Our shows are a celebration of our LGBTQ+ community, with three identifying performers at each one. Check out a Pride show in your city!
Don’t see your city on the list? We shine a spotlight on the LGBTQ+ community all year round! We always prioritize making sure our shows are inclusive for everyone, welcoming people of all different backgrounds and identities into our doors and creating a safe space.
Last week, we put on our party hats and feted our 10 year anniversary in true Sofar fashion, with special shows in 65+ cities around the world! We celebrated our past (starting as a little side hobby among friends in a London flat), our present (now in over 400 cities worldwide with 75+ full-time employees) and our future (putting on more gigs to champion developing artists). And had a great time doing it!
Couldn’t make it to our Sofar Turns 10 celebrations? Get a glimpse of some of the global magic that happened:
A message from Sofar Founder Rafe Offer:
For much of Sofar’s history, our growth around the world has been entirely word-of-mouth. A friend brought a friend to a Sofar in London, so they decided to start it up in their hometown, and so forth… We wouldn’t be where we are today, celebrating 10 years of magical musical moments, without our dedicated community around the world putting on Sofars and supporting their local artists, hosts and art scene. We’re counting down some of our favorite community moments:
We’re celebrating Sofar Turns 10 around the world with 65+ shows, and we want you in on the festivities. Join us in kicking off the next decade of music discovery with some of our favorite alumni artists and good friends – all at special secret locations, of course. Full list of events.
Couldn’t make it to all 500 shows we hosted last month? Us neither! That’s why we asked our city leaders around the world for the artist that stood out most to them at their April shows. Grab your headphones and press play on our Now Playing Spotify playlist. Hit “Follow” to stay updated each month with the latest picks.
Throughout 10 years of shows, we’ve had countless memorable moments and made incredible memories. It’s pretty much impossible to count down the best Sofar moments, but that doesn't stop us from trying. We asked our full-time team around the world for their most memorable moments at Sofar (stay tuned for top community moments from our city teams soon!):
We’re celebrating Sofar Turns 10 around the world with 65+ shows, and we want you in on the festivities. Join us in kicking off the next decade of music discovery with some of our favorite alumni artists and good friends – all at special secret locations, of course. Full list of events.
We pride ourselves on showcasing amazing talent in nontraditional venues. When we first started out, Sofars were all held in people's homes. But when we have the chance, we love to switch it up a little bit and send our guests somewhere completely unexpected.
It’s hard to narrow down, but here are our Top 10 favorite – and most unexpected! – places we’ve ever hosted a Sofar:
We’re celebrating Sofar Turns 10 around the world with 65+ shows, and we want you in on the festivities. Join us in kicking off the next decade of music discovery with some of our favorite alumni artists and good friends – all at special secret locations, of course. Full list of events.
This year, Sofar is celebrating our 10 year anniversary! Over the years, our YouTube channel has been a way to discover Sofar performances from around the world. If you watched our 20,000 videos back to back, it’d take you a quick 59 days. Don’t have two months to set aside? We've gathered our Top 10 Most Viewed Videos EVER:
We’re celebrating Sofar Turns 10 around the world with 65+ shows, and we want you in on the festivities. Join us in kicking off the next decade of music discovery with some of our favorite alumni artists and good friends – all at special secret locations, of course. Full list of events.