The new world created by COVID-19 has brought with it, in some ways, a new music industry. Or at least, for the time being, new ways of bands and other music artists performing and new ways for fans to get their fill of entertainment while live shows remain on pause. Many have turned to live streams, while some, like the Rolling Stones, performed while social distancing. The band New Kids On The Block created a music video for their new song “House Party” while social distancing. Many artists have even used their platform to raise money for COVID-related and Black Lives Matter donations.
This time has resulted in some more creative endeavors, like the virtual Minecraft music festival, headlined by Diplo, Zhu, and A-Trak, which is scheduled to happen at the end of this month.
However, one performer stands out above the rest. New-York based music performer Marc Rebillet—genre-defying electronic DJ, or “loop-daddy” as his fans call him—kicked off his tour Tuesday of this week. We know what you’re thinking: Someone is on tour during this crazy time? Is that even allowed?
Despite music venues being closed, and his previously planned summer tours being canceled, he found a genius way to bring his music to fans across six US cities this summer: good old-fashion drive-ins. In a CNN interview, after first announcing the tour, he said “I believe we’re the first to market with this — we’re pretty pumped about it!”
His music agent, Christian Bernhardt, added, “Some drive-in concerts have already occurred,” said. “But this will be the first-ever proper US drive-in tour.”
And so, Tuesday night in Baltimore, Maryland he made history by being the first even known music performer to have a drive-in movie theater tour. The event took place at the Bengies Drive-In Theatre. It began with two comedic short films, keeping to the classic drive-in movie feel while building anticipation for the show.
Following the short films, the man himself emerged, enthusiastically running through the rows of cars in his trademark bathrobe over a pair of boxers. For fans, this was no surprise as this attire is typical of his streams and illustrates Marc’s silly way of not taking himself seriously that makes him so funny. Some may even consider him a comedy DJ, akin to Weird Al Yanokvic, especially since most of the songs he performs (live and on his streams) are created right on the spot, often taking inspiration from his surroundings and fans, who he lets call-in on the streams.
After his entrance, he ran into a “pod” that was stationed nearby, where he performed while being displayed on the big screen. He began with a song inspired by our current situation. The beat contained humorous lyrics of “national emergency” and “stay in your car.”
The rest of the show was made up of on-the-spot created beats and tunes that displayed his immense talent for music from the way he layers his harmonies without flaw to his quick wit at coming up with funny lyrics. For his last song, he did come out of the pod once again to take requests from fans on which of his past songs he should sing.
After getting many requests from his repertoire, he joked that he had to go with the man who had a megaphone—who could apparently be heard even from inside his pod. The megaphone man remarked that he traveled from New Jersey and wanted Marc to perform his song ‘Reach Out,’ from 2018. Marc performed the song and then ended the show thanking everyone who was there by saying we all probably “paid too much money” to support him and his music, and he expressed sincere appreciation.
Considering that a portion of all his ticket proceeds is going to be donated to GlobalGiving Coronavirus Relief Fund, and how electric the vibe of his performance was, I’m certain no one agreed with that statement and left feeling excited and relieved to have finally been able to spend, for many, the first night in a long time enjoying pure fun while getting to soak up the talent and humor of their dear beloved ‘loop daddy.’
