20 For 20 is a new feature where I look back at 20 of my favourite things that has happened in the music world in 2020.
When the world was placed into lockdown back in March, those of us who attend gigs all wondered what we were going to do for our fix of live music. Of course the answer was to be online streams. Leading the way with this new format of consuming live music was Isol-Aid Festival.
Isol-Aid Festival for those who don’t know is an award-winning online music festival run from Australia by the amazing Emily Ulman and her team.
To quote the website:
“The festival was created in the days after the coronavirus pandemic reached Australia, when it became immediately clear that musicians and their teams would be heavily impacted by the cancellation of their shows and tours. At that time, it also became clear that the music community would have to disperse and could no longer meet up at small or large venues, record stores or festivals, to participate, support, buy merch, sing and dance to their favourite artists.
Isol-Aid helps musicians – who would otherwise have had shows, launches, tours, and other appearances planned for this period – to stream live and online to an audience of their already devoted fans, as well as new fans who are there waiting to discover and connect.“
It has proven to be a great way to raise funds for everyone involved in the music industry in Australia.
As someone who is a big fan of Australian music I remember getting very excited when I heard about Isol-Aid and saw the lineup for the first ever weekend. Back at the start for the first couple of weeks there were around 74 acts playing over the two days. All playing a 20 minute set via their own Instagram accounts. There were so many acts I was a big fan of there was no way I was going to let the time difference stop me being up to watch the streams.
After the first few weeks, once the decision was made to keep going, the festival became one day a week with fewer acts each weekend but it has continued to grow in stature.
This week will be the 38th edition of Isol-Aid. They have only taken one week off since the festival started. It also represents a change as the festival will now move from Instagram to TikTok with each act playing a 30 minute set instead of 20.
As someone who has been there from the start, Isol-Aid has been huge for me personally. I now don’t know what I would do without it. I look forward each week to the lineup announcement, hoping some of my favourites may be playing, and then of course to the live streams themselves. It’s been a great way to discover even more great Aussie acts that I didn’t know about, and it’s also been a great way of making some new friends as a number of us have got to know each other and become part of the Isol-Aid family.
I appreciate the time doesn’t make it easy on us here in the UK. But if you do have chance to pop along one weekend then I suggest you do.
Morph