While the Summer and Music (SAM) organizers ponder on whether or not to live-stream their annual festival this year, another annual music celebration will be live-streaming theirs on Sunday.

The Make Music Long Beach festival is a localized version of Make Music Day, an international celebration of live music that started in France in 1982. The event is observed in more than 120 countries worldwide, where musicians perform free for live audiences in public spaces all over their city.

When coronavirus shutdowns banned crowds from gathering, rather than cancel the event altogether, organizers from the Long Beach Music Council pivoted with a plan to host the third iteration with a series of private, socially-distanced “neighborhood pop-up concerts” that will be live-streamed for public viewing.

“This is a unique set-up that we’re doing, obviously because of the coronavirus and the conditions of being safe out there” said Marc Davidson, chair for Make Music Long Beach of the Long Beach Music Council.

Participating this year are 18 local bands/musicians including jazz and spoken word artist Shy But Flyy, soul-rock artist Sylvia Bosco and folk duo Cowboy and Indian. All of the performances will be “low-key,” acoustic-forward sets.

Musicians who opt to host a private “pop-up” concert from their residence are required to follow the City of Long Beach and California coronavirus guidelines, which requires audiences to wear masks and maintain a 6-foot distance from each other during the performance. These concerts are not open to the public.

Performances begin at 11 a.m and end at 9 p.m. on Sunday, June 21. According to Davidson, set-times are as follows with more TBA:

  • Per Se (Charles Whitehead) | 1 p.m.
  • Jupiter 2.0 | 1 p.m.
  • Ann Thais | 2 p.m.
  • Lisa and Feter | 2 p.m.
  • Brother Pines | 2 p.m.
  • Auntie Kayte | 3 p.m.
  • Shy But Flyy | 4 p.m.
  • Dennis Murphy | 4 p.m.
  • Marc and Pattie Davidson | 6 p.m.
  • Robby Ravenwood | 6:30 p.m.
  • Stan Dewitt & Denean Dyson | 7 p.m.
  • Long Beach Unplugged | 7:30 p.m

To watch the stream, check out the Make Music Long Beach website, here.