Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre has announced two more upcoming live-stream events. The Lobero will host the Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio featuring Gerald Clayton and Anthony Wilson, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, and a performance by Steppenwolf’s John Kay, 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13.
The Lobero has also announced rebroadcasts of performances by Kenny Loggins and KT Tunstall. A viewing of Kenny Loggins’s “unplugged” performance will take place Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 26-29); KT Tunstall’s concert is available to stream now in the Lobero concert library.
Tickets for all live-stream shows are $15 and are available at the Lobero Theatre website https://www.livefromthelobero.org/.
Those who are able to make a donation to support the live music experience at the Lobero Theatre are welcome to contribute more when they buy their tickets. Proceeds from the shows will go toward supporting the Lobero Theatre, and a donation will be made to the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA).
The Lobero is striving to keep the theater relevant and grow its audience by diving into the streaming world with the Live From the Lobero pay-per-view concerts.
The Lobero Theatre is one of the oldest theaters in the country. For almost 150 years, it has featured some of the world’s greatest artists. Since closing its doors to limit the spread of COVID-19, the venue has lost more than $1 million in critical earned income.
Like every theater, nightclub, and performing arts center in America, the Lobero faces an uncertain future. When ultimately allowed to reopen, the Lobero and other venues will need to survive with reduced occupancy to safely socially distance. A great many venues are likely to disappear, before ever getting back to live audience.
The Lobero contactless performances are live-streamed as inexpensive pay-per-view concerts. The theater’s safety-centric production model involves a forensically small crew using various assigned entrances.
In addition to PPE, temperature, and symptom checks while entering the building, all crew members will bring their own food and remain in their specific space for the entire production.
Some of the technicians perform their tasks from individual rooms. Others never come within 15 feet of the artists. They are only to leave their room, or position, to use one of the eight assigned bathrooms and stalls.
After set-up, the day before show day, the stage, doors, hallways, and rooms, will all be disinfected to meet COVID-19 sanitation guidelines. On show day, no one other than the artist(s) walks on to the performance stage. Artists arrive through stage doors, take their place on-stage, perform, and exit without making contact with the crew.