An immersive Prince experience, music at Westminster Abbey, destination shows in the Rocky Mountains—here are eight of Sofar’s 2022 Standout Moments.
1. A Destination Adventure
Our first 2022 standout moment? It’s when we turned a Sofar experience into a road trip, bringing people from all over to a sold-out destination show in the gorgeous mountain town of Telluride, CO. Take a look below to get a glimpse of the fun.
2. An Evening at Westminster Abbey
How about a show in a royal church housing roughly a thousand years of history? We got the chance to partner up with Tiqets to bring Sofar to a few jaw dropping locations around London, including The Queen’s Gallery, and this incredibly magical secret summer show at Westminster Abbey. Truly, you never know where a Sofar might take you.
3. A Multi-sensory Experience of Music and Tasty Food
Ever tasted a song before? Over the summer we teamed up with Lexus to present Parallels, an evening in Los Angeles where the crowd was treated not only to dynamic sets from Jae Luna, Kyle Dion, and Kablito, but also got to snack on small bites made by Michelin-star chef visionary Ludo Lefebvre, inspired by the music. How did that all work? See below for a taste of it (and here for seconds, and thirds).
4. A Black Tie Night at Sunset
Let’s have our Production Operations Manager, Jeff Paxton, explain this 2022 standout moment from Houston, TX:
In 2019, we had a Sofar Black Tie concert in Houston, and it was the biggest and best event the pre-pandemic team put on. Everything to the nines. We had champagne and performers from the Houston Symphony. After re-opening in Houston, we always threw around the idea of doing another Black Tie show to prove that we were really back. We found the perfect space—the rooftop of Le Meridien Hotel in downtown Houston, [and] the perfect time as the sun was setting over the skyline, and performers who brought a really special energy. It was so exciting to see all the guests showing up in their black tie attire, trusting that we’d deliver an amazing experience. Sofar Houston is back!
5. A Night at the Prince Immersive Experience
A definite 2022 standout moment came from this special night in Chicago, IL. We had the chance to team up with Prince: The Immersive Experience to present The Prince Double Feature, which gave guests the chance to experience an immersive museum exhibit, a dance party, and of course, live music. Get a taste of the evening with Just Logan’s gritty, stripped down cover of Prince’s “When Doves Cry”.
6. A Laid-Back Night on the Beach
Sometimes a larger-than-life night only takes a couple modest ingredients, like good music on a warm beach with the last of the daylight on the horizon in Sunny San Diego, CA. We’ll just leave you with this candid pic of this casual, 2022 standout moment.
7. Music from Under the Sea (or in the Aquarium)
And speaking of the ocean, it adds a whole new (marine) layer of fun to an evening to bring live music to the aquarium. In this case, it’s Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco, another partnership endeavor with our friends at Tiqets. We’ve had some fun nights at the Aquarium (just see what these showgoers had to say about Sacramento, CA artist Vadia’s performance). And, if you’re too far from the U.S. but craving an aquarium show, maybe you can plan an adventure to the Aquarium Finisterrae in A Coruña, Spain, or another one of these dreamy spaces.
8. A Crowd Sing Along
Our last 2022 standout moment? It’s the heartbeat of Sofar, the intimacy that comes from artists giving their all in small rooms to attentive music lovers. This one comes from a performance from January Muse (a.k.a. Cam Parsons, our very own Sofar Artist Booker) for Sofar LA, where the R&B artist pauses mid-song to coach the audience through taking the chorus over, then pulling out his violin for a solo as the crowd sings. That’s Sofar, and we’re proud of it.
Words by Sofar Editorial Team
Photo credit: Sofar Houston, photo by Jeff Paxton
