#tram sessions

[imsickofbeingthebitchyouthinkiam]

Angie McMahon - Slow Mover | Tram Sessions

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[songsinmyheadofficial]

CLEWS - Museum (Tram Sessions)

[ausmusic-blog1]

The Peep Tempel - Rayguns The number 86 Tram (2017)

[songsinmyheadofficial]

Lewis Watson - Little Light (Tram Sessions)

[thiscitylife]

Can I Get Some Live Music on My Ride into Work?

The first and only time I heard live music on public transit was on the Metro in Rome, Italy, where every so often a man playing accordion would enter the train and sing some old Italian standards in hopes of some spare change from riders. This was in a time before everyone had their heads buried in their smart phones. Usually, the musician was talented enough for commuters to pay attention and he or she would leave at the next stop.

Public transit is a place where people often choose to disengage. Similar to being on an elevator, crowding strangers in a cramped space doesn’t typically inspire conversation and conviviality. 

But if the alternative to tuning out on your phone was to listen to great live music?

Good music has the ability to shake you out of the monotony of daily routines and make you feel alive in the moment. Imagine if we could have an experience like this on public transit:

Cities like Seattle, San Diego and Melbourne have all organized events involving live music on public transit. In Seattle, a local radio station organized a one-time event in 2011 called  “Light Rail Dark Rail”, a series of live musical performances onboard the city’s Link light rail system. 

The Australian city of Melbourne has a more longterm approach - a  non-profit organization formed to launch Tram Sessions, which is still working today to bring music and culture into a public space. Tram Sessions encourages Melbourne artists and bands to perform on city trams and the sessions are later uploaded to the Tram Sessions website where the performances can be viewed by a larger audience.

“A lot of live music venues were closing down in Melbourne, so we thought why not put some bands on trams?” said one of the Tram Sessions founders Nick Wallberg. “The purpose is to explore the local music scene and introduce great bands to new audiences. A lot of people don’t have time or money to go gigs and tram sessions give them an opportunity. Now, they get a private concert with 20-30 people.”

One of my favourite Canadian bands, Hey Rosetta! participated and you can watch the video here. It is interesting to watch the reactions of transit riders - some are slightly bemused, others more impressed and some just completely tune it out!

Rather than immersing ourselves in an online game of Candy Crush, Solitaire or Pokemon Go, let’s groove together to some live music.

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