OUTBURN ONLINE
January 25, 2021
BY COLLEEN JOHNSON
“To be perfectly honest, it feels pretty damn essential to us to get to do what we love to do. It makes sense, right? But we’re being patient, we know that we will see you all very, very soon. We’re working hard on that. We need some therapy because this has been hard on all of us.” This was a statement frontman Johannes Eckerstrӧm made that came about an hour into their latest livestream last Saturday. While fully acknowledging before it that he knew healthcare workers were more essential, it’s a point that needed to be touched on. The arts are essential for the performers, for the fans, for all of our mental health, and luckily for the band and their fan base, they have taken on the major task of performing four livestreams this month, while some artists have done one, if that, since the touring industry shut down completely over 10 months ago. But for their mental health, that choice is understandable as well, but with a light at the end of the tunnel, the livestream has become a work of art and something that will put a mini band-aid on the pain of not having the live experience for now.