As Tim Burgess releases his latest solo album, the indie star talks about the incredible success of his lockdown Listening Parties
At 10pm on 23 March 2020, Tim Burgess tweeted: “OK. Drop the needle on the record/press play/start streaming. We’re going in…” and an online phenomenon began. Elsewhere in the news that day: “UK could face Italy-style lockdown, warns Boris Johnson”; “No 10 denies Dominic Cummings argued to ‘let old people die’”; “Trump says unproven coronavirus drugs could be ‘gift from God’”; and, “Funeral directors told to make masks out of ‘towels and bin liners’.” Yes, astonishingly, the early days of the pandemic were even grimmer than you may remember them now.
One sliver of relief came via Tim’s Twitter Listening Party. The idea belonged to Tim Burgess, singer with the band the Charlatans. As an alternative to the nightly horror show of the BBC News at Ten, Burgess would invite his Twitter followers to hit play on a well-loved album and listen together in real time. Someone involved in the record would tweet anecdotes and memories of each track, and sometimes photos. Often that meant the singer, but just as often it meant the drummer, bass player, producer, PR, photographer or any combination of the above. Two-and-a-half years on, we’re out of lockdown, but the Listening Parties continue. At the time of writing there have been 1,183 of them: everyone from heavy-metal heavyweights (Iron Maiden) to obscure Irish folk (Mellow Candle). Paul McCartney has hosted one, as have members of the Sex Pistols, the Smiths and David Bowie’s band.
