Courtesy of Robert Rohe, SoFar Sounds
Lizzie Weber, at a Sofar Sounds concert in St. Louis.
Sofar Sounds’ motto is “Bringing the magic back to live music.” If you see a lot of shows, you totally understand what that mean—beer-sticky floors and drunken bros doing interpretive dances in front of the stage can really kill the mood of a concert. Sofar, which was started in London and has chapters all over the world, also makes some magic with its process: The venue and the band are secret until 24 hours before the show. As with house concerts, you have to sign up to get invitations. The shows are small, intimate, and mostly acoustic—but that’s where the comparison ends.
“It’s not just a house show,” says Chris DiGiacomo, city director for Sofar St. Louis. “I want to do a rooftop show. I want to do a show at an art gallery. When I say ‘venue,’ I mean pretty much anywhere that there can be music.”
Since its start in St. Louis, about a year ago, Sofar’s held concerts in a back yard (and quickly shifted to a living room when a storm rolled in), at an artist’s studio inside the Monkey Building on Washington, and at feminist sex shop Box on Cherokee Street. The lineup’s been equally eclectic: The Monkey Building show featured local hip-hop collective MME, Mishawaka, Indiana folk/soul duo Von Strantz, and Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter Lynn O’Brien. The band of local volunteers, including DiGiacomo’s girlfriend, Myranda Lee, and recent St. Louis transplant Aykut Ibrisim (who was involved in Sofar Istanbul), organize just one show a month.
Sign up on their website, or get a sneak peek on Sofar’s YouTube channel, where you can watch a clip of Mt. Thelonious playing at Box.
Homes can provide an intimate setting for a concert. Here are some other groups that regularly organize house shows:
- Wood House Concerts: Started in 2005, Wood House Concerts is the city’s longest-running house concert series. Shows are by invitation only; sign up on the website to get on the list. Capacity is about 80 people, and shows are first come, first served.
- Kelly House Concerts: Kelly House Concerts has been around since 2007 and maintains an email invite list. It books both national and local acts.
- Edwardsville’s Log House Concerts: The concerts focus mainly on solo singer-songwriters. Reserve a seat by calling or emailing; the most current info can be found on the group’s Facebook page.
