On Saturday, May 30th, over 70 artists and thousands of fans came together for Quarantine Comes Alive, a virtual music festival that raised money for a litany of charities via the comprehensive PLUS1 COVID-19 Relief Fund.
The 15-hour livestream marathon featured new contributions by an array of amazing artists from around the world. It was a lot to take in and you surely missed at least a few of the many performers, so we’ll be rolling out the individual segments over the next few weeks to highlight each of the individual performances.
To open the festivities at Quarantine Comes Alive, The Motet‘s Lyle Divinsky and Dave Watts recruited Big Gigantic‘s Dominic Lalli, for an appropriate rendition of “Quarantine Fantasy”, the Watts/Divinsky original initially debuted via Live For Live Music back on April 28th, The upbeat track takes a “silver linings” perspective on life during the social distancing era, which itself had an impact on the songwriting and recording process for both the single and the QCA performance.
After a walk through the back door of a Denver music venue to find Watts on stage behind a drum kit, the three performers’ remote parts come together Zoom-style on-screen. Despite being in different places, this performance managed to come together with the cohesion of a true live rendition. The retro-funk synths lay a foundation for Lalli’s smooth saxophone work, while Divinsky’s soaring falsetto croons lines like “We ain’t gotta go outside for fun.” A breakdown at the midway point of the song allows Watts to set Lalli up for a quick solo before cutting back to Divinsky singing and dancing through various rooms in his home.
As Watts explained of the song,
I wrote and recorded the first version of Quarantine Fantasy deep in isolation. When I sent it to Lyle he felt like he could sing a message that was a little more light-hearted and fun than some of the quarantine songs we were hearing at that point. A few weeks later, Kunj [Shah] reached out to me to see if we had any content that The Motet could contribute to Quarantine Comes Alive. I suggested that Lyle and I do a ‘live’ version of the song featuring Dominic Lalli on tenor sax. We’re incredibly grateful for Live For Live Music giving us the opportunity to try something different and to be a part of this inspiring community effort.
If you enjoyed the performance, you can make a donation to Colin Kaepernick‘s Know Your Rights Camp here. Watch Dave Watts, Lyle Divinsky, and Dominic Lalli perform “Quarantine Fantasy” at Quarantine Comes Alive below:
Dave Watts, Lyle Divinsky, Dominic Lalli – “Quarantine Fantasy” – Quarantine Comes Alive
[Video: Live For Live Music]
Presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with PLUS1 and Nugs.TV, Quarantine Comes Alive was conceived as a way to celebrate and support musicians, provide fans with unique musical experiences from the comfort of their couches, and raise money for comprehensive COVID-19 relief during this time of uncertainty. The $160k+ in donations raised from the event will be split evenly between the artists on the bill and the PLUS1 COVID-19 Relief Fund, which works directly with leading non-profit organizations like Sweet Relief, MusiCares, Center for Disaster Philanthropy, World Central Kitchen, Partners In Health, Trans Lifeline, and Backline to provide aid where it’s needed most. For more information, head here.