Steven Page Announces 100th Live From Home Show

(mfh) Steven Page has announced the 100th episode of his Live From Home series that will be taking place on Saturday, March 18th. In the Spring of 2020 it became painfully apparent to Steven Page that because of the worldwide pandemic, planned tour dates weren't going to take place. He decided to connect with his fans through a livestream performance from the basement of his home in Manlius, NY, and now almost three years later, he's planning the 100th edition of his Live From Home concert series seen around the world via Zoom.

"In the beginning, when I realized I was unable to tour, I thought I would do just one show. Looking back on that first show [on April 25, 2020], I realized there was a demand for it when a thousand people tuned in - the max capacity of Zoom. It pushed me creatively and it was fun, so we've continued."

Page, co-founder and former front man of Barenaked Ladies, the celebrated Canadian band for which he wrote/co-wrote much of their classic repertoire including, "The Old Apartment," "Brian Wilson," "Jane, "What a Good Boy," "It's All Been Done," "If I Had $1,000,000" and "Be My Yoko Ono," decided to make the virtual gathering a regular event. He has kept at it, even now that live touring, post-lockdown, has become a reality.* Page can be counted to perform for fans on every Saturday that he's not on the road, and has entertained an estimated 35,000 viewers over the course of the 99 LFH two-hour ticketed Zoomcasts to date. Price of admission is $10 per device/household. Get tickets here.

Live From Home #100 is set for Saturday, March 18 at 5PM Eastern / 2PM Pacific and promises to be very special though he cautions that the series will continue. "It's challenging to come up with a new program every week," he says, having developed numerous show-specific concepts over the years. He did one (LFH A-Z) where each song title in his set began with a successive letter of the alphabet and for which he had to write "Xylorimba" to accommodate the letter "X." Holiday specials featuring such selections as "Cheese Log" and "Hanukkah Blessings," and other themed shows are much anticipated by his enthusiastic and loyal fanbase. "There's a real sense of community among the viewers," he notes. They've gotten to know each other, and now that live touring is back, there have been in-person meet ups before shows." Along those lines, Live From Home #100 will be performed before a live audience composed of Patreon subscribers who claimed the right to be on hand in Page's Syracuse, NY studio, where the show has originated since episode #60, on a first come/first serve basis. He notes that fans from multiple Canadian provinces and US states as far away as California are expected.

Live From Home provided the inspiration for some of the repertoire heard on Page's current album Excelsior, named for the motto of the State of New York where he now resides. There's "Zoom" for which a video has been created as well as the aforementioned "Xylorimba." A much-anticipated segment of the LFH shows is when Page, on guitar or piano (sometimes both), is joined on video by the other two members of the Steven Page Trio: Craig Northey (guitar, vocals) and Kevin Fox (cello, vocals). The group plans what they'll be performing earlier in the week with Northey and Fox sending in their pre-recorded contribution that Page melds with his own (live) performance using Open Broadcast technology, so it appears they're actually performing at the same time.

Of course, technical glitches are inevitable with such a grand endeavor and Page salutes his fans for their forbearance. "You can always count on something going wrong, but the audience is understanding and stays with it so if something goes awry they wait for it to be fixed and the show picks up from there."

While every Live From Home is unique with its own setlist and theme, there's a through line common to all. The last song performed is always Page's "Brian Wilson," during which each open Zoom box fills the screen for a few seconds where audience members can be counted on to wave, hold up signs, dogs, cats and babies. As the credits roll, Steve is wont to do some inspired 'dad dancing' as the show comes to a conclusion.

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