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.
Can you believe it? Sofar Sounds is turning TEN! What started as a little side hobby in a London flat with just eight people is now in over 400 cities around the world. We’re celebrating around the world with 65+ shows, and we want you in on the festivities. After all, where would Sofar Sounds be without our global community?
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. See if one’s happening in your neighborhood:
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 into all the new music in 2019.
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.
Situated in the northwest of the country, A Coruña is one of ten Sofar cities in Spain, a country rich with music in the past and present. The port city features a medieval old town, beaches, a seaside promenade, and as of six months ago, a Sofar team putting on local gigs! Sofar A Coruña City Leader Carolina shares her under-the-radar sights for anyone visiting, along with a playlist featuring her favorite local Sofar alumni:
Jim (otherwise known as BeatFox) is no stranger to Sofar, having performed at over 50 Sofars in Europe, mostly in his London hometown. He chats with us about the art of beatboxing, some of his favorite moments at Sofar and how he comes up with all those strange and cool noises:
Blake wears many hats at Sofar. He not only plans all of Sofar Detroit’s shows, but he acts as a conduit for Sofar’s 40 curator cities, connecting the dots between our local show producers and our global team’s tools and resources while helping to bring more Sofar shows to more cities. Before leading Sofar Detroit, Blake studied law and worked in public policy. He talks to us about making the transition from law to concert creator, the key to avoiding gentrification, and what everyone should know about Detroit (but doesn’t):
With Coachella kicking things off this weekend, festival season is officially here! These Sofar alumni will be performing in the desert under the sun to thousands, but we first saw them in some intimate venues alongside just a few dozen others. Here are 13 Sofar alumni to keep your eyes on this weekend in Indio, California:
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 March shows. Grab your headphones and press play on our Now Playing Spotify playlist. Hit “Follow” to stay updated each month with the latest picks.
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!
The past month, we’ve beat our winter blues by teaming up with Firestone to put on shows across six cities in Europe, highlighting some of our favorite up-and-coming artists.
How does being front row in a photo pit taking pics of your favorite artists sound? If your dream is to be a concert photographer, we’ve got some tips to get started from Sofar Oxford photographer Jason Warner, of GlassHertzzPhoto. Many of Sofar’s ambassadors around the world take photos at Sofar in order to get their start photographing artists. Jason shares his top suggestions for going from novice to festival photographer:
This year, Sofar celebrated International Women’s Day all month long with 50+ shows featuring all women-identifying lineups, taking place in over 41 cities on six continents. With over 50% of Sofar’s full-time staff identifying as women in a traditionally male-dominated industry, our teams around the world wanted to make a global effort to celebrate the women in our artist, host, guest and team communities. Here’s a look back at a few moments from the shows:
We came, we saw, we South By-ed. Some of the Sofar crew hit up SXSW this year to discover new music live at Austin's mega festival. They share the best sets that stood out above all, below and in this handy playlist:
Since Shawnee Dez first performed at Sofar Chicago nearly three years ago, she’s become a hometown favorite, performing at over 20 Sofars. Watch a few seconds of her cover of “I’d Rather Go Blind” and it’s easy to see why. Shawnee talks to us about being a part of the ever-changing and influential Chicago music scene, some of her favorite artists today and more: