Brickman, Vega set up virtual concerts

Performances to benefit The Bushnell and other shuttered theaters

Jim Brickman and Suzanne Vega are among the pop stars fashioning their latest tours — virtual live concerts — as benefits for the theaters they would otherwise be visiting live. The Bushnell is part of both these “tours,” the only shows on The Bushnell’s current schedule that aren’t live and thus the only ones that are virtually guaranteed to happen on schedule

Vega, still a reliably popular concert act decades after her commercial breakthrough with the singles “Tom’s Diner” and “Luka,” will play two concerts, with a full band, at the famed Blue Note jazz club in New York City Oct. 7 at 9 p.m. and Oct. 8 at 3 p.m. The tour and Vega’s new album (recorded live at the Blue Note in 2018) are both titled “New York Songs and Stories” and feature her hits, lesser-known album cuts from her long career, a song from her one-woman show about the novelist Carson McCullers and New York-themed songs by others, including Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.” Tickets for the Oct. 7 performance are already on sale through The Bushnell, which will receive a portion from the proceeds. The Oct. 7 concert benefits U.S. venues while the Oct. 8 show is for European viewers. The concert is available online for 72 hours following its initial livestream.

Vega has been a vocal supporter of the National Independent Venues Association and its campaign to get congress to pass the Save Our Stages bill supporting theaters, clubs and concert halls which have been closed indefinitely due to the coronavirus.

Pop pianist Jim Brickman has been bringing his concert tours to Connecticut for decades. He’s played The Bushnell in Hartford and the Shubert in New Haven many times, and has also been seen at Mohegan Sun, the Oakdale, the Waterbury Palace and the Norfolk Infinity Hall.

Unable to tour in person during the coronavirus shutdowns, Brickman has arranged a series of virtual live events intended to support shuttered venues. There are 50 events planned, often more than one a day, between Nov. 29 and New Year’s Day. Each concert is designated to help a different performing arts center or arts program. Two of them are benefiting Connecticut theaters — The Bushnell and the Shubert.

Brickman’s Bushnell event comes first, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. The Shubert one is Dec. 23 at 7 p.m. Tickets are arranged in tiers, except that it’s not about sitting in an orchestra section rather than a balcony. The $125 ticket receives the live concert, a Zoom Room interaction with Brickman, “a stocking full of Christmas gifts delivered to your doorstep”and two opportunities to interact with Brickman, in a Zoom and at a virtual after-show party. A $75 ticket gets everything but the after-show party. A $40 ticket is for the concert alone.

The tour is titled “Comfort and Joy at Home.” Brickman’s Christmastime shows are among his most popular. He released an album called “Comfort and Joy” in 2016 and at least eight of his more than 50 albums have Christmas or wintertime themes.

Tickets for both Connecticut-related shows (and all the other concerts) are on sale exclusively through Brickman’s website, jimbrickman.com.