One year of daily streams and still going strong!
Britain’s Got Talent semifinalists The Jive Aces have now delivered a whole year of consecutive live-streamed concerts, performing every single day since just before the first lockdown began. And they are still going.
Along the way they have featured many special star guests, including Strictly’s Len Goodman, Officer Crabtree from Allo Allo and Kevin McNally from Pirates of the Caribbean – all making virtual appearances on the shows.
It all adds up to more than 365 hours of music, banter and fun, including requests, competitions, comedy and a popular boogie-woogie challenge.
Starting on March 17 2020, the band livestreamed concerts on Facebook and YouTube from their rehearsal studio in East Grinstead, with people from all over the world tuning in and the viewers soon routinely topping 15,000 a day.
During lockdown, the band were relocated in one household and continued performing from the Red Brick Studio.
Ian Clarkson, lead singer of the Jive Aces, said: “When all our shows, including a US tour, had to be cancelled, many of our fans asked us to do a live stream, so we tried it out. Word spread, we continued, and the live audience grew daily, with hundreds of song requests, ideas and positive comments sent in.
“We realised that in these unprecedented times, this was how music fans could still follow their favourite bands, and we encouraged other musicians and performers to do the same. We are the artists. It’s our job to keep everyone else up! Hence the show’s motto, The Show Must Go On!
“We can’t wait to perform live again and see our fans. Meantime, the livestream is great to keep in touch with our fans and new ones and entertain you all! It has created a whole jive community and brought people together.”
Fans stream daily from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Canada, America, New Zealand and more.
Live audience participation became a key part of the shows. One couple created their own T-shirts with the logo Jive Stream, The #Show Must Go On and sent them in to use as competition prizes. Another fan created a detailed Lego version of the Red Brick studio including the band and their instruments.
The band perform uplifting jive, swing and rock ’n’ roll tunes and the feedback has kept the show going. Comments have included “Your show made me smile despite all this heartache… thank you to you all!”; and “Brilliant. Thank you so much. It came just at the right time today. Was feeling very down. Made a huge difference.”
The show goes live every day at 8.30pm. Rock ’n’ Romance, Vivien Of Holloway vintage clothing reproductions and Big Finish (official Doctor Who audio books producers) are among those that have donated prizes to win on the show.
The six-piece band have won a collection of awards for their contribution to music and constant charity work, including one from the Variety Club of Great Britain for their efforts in drug prevention.
Their music is also used on TV including the latest Netflix series Sex Education. They have also worked with many of the top names in the business, including Jamie Cullum, Van Morrison, Status Quo and John Travolta.