There’s so much to discover at a Sofar show—a space you’ve never been to, interesting fellow music lovers in your city, and of course, amazing artists. Sometimes those incredible artists go on to pretty big things—arena concerts and Oscar wins, huge collaborations with chart topping mega star musicians, and maybe even to star themselves as the Batman. So without further ado, here are seven well known artists who have played Sofar.
1. FINNEAS
Some might know him as a dynamic producer, or a songwriter who teams up with his sister, Billie Eilish (also a Sofar alum), or a Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe winner for writing the James Bond No Time To Die theme song (also with Billie). Or maybe you even know him from his acting days on Glee. Spoiler alert: FINNEAS is all those things, and continues to do more (he’s only 25 years old, after all). How lucky are we that we got to see the multi-hyphenate artist play this stripped down, simple number for Sofar NYC?
2. Cuco
One minute you’re just casually playing in the jazz and marching bands for your high school, teaching yourself Ableton Live and self producing your mixtape, and the next you’re selling out your first shows and gathering hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify. That was the case for Cuco anyway, who’s still putting out solid, woozy pop numbers, like his recent single “Si Me Voy” featuring The Marias. But before you listen to the single, revisit Cuco’s 2017 vibey Sofar performance of “Amor De Siempre”.
3. The Marias
And speaking of The Marias, remember when they blew everyone’s minds with their 2021 album CINEMA? Or when they collaborated with megastar Bad Bunny for last year’s ultra, ultra smooth and catchy single, “Otro Atardecer”? But ya know, we feel pretty darn lucky we got to catch them play this small, laid-back evening for Sofar Los Angeles.
4. Andra Day
Did you see The United States vs. Billie Holiday? You probably found yourself in downright awe of leading lady Andra Day, who took home a Golden Globe and a Grammy award for her dynamic performance. But we think she deserves about a thousand awards for her Sofar performance of “Rise Up”, one that still gives us goosebumps across our arms every single time we watch it.
5. Robert Pattinson
Long before he was throwing on the Batman cape, Robert Pattinson was just casually picking up the guitar and serenading a small room in London with a song called “It’s All On You”. Need we say more?
6. Crumb
Before their 2019 debut album Jinx, or the praise from critics, or the festival appearances at Outside Lands or Austin Psych Fest, Crumb was sharing their psychedelic slacker-rock with just a handful of music lovers in a tiny living room for Sofar NYC.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXOW7TYdiWc
7. James Bay
We’ve been hosting Sofar shows around the world for more than a decade, and they’ve been solid from the start. Back in 2013, we got to see James Bay perform a song called “Stealing Cars” in a small room in London. Little did we know it would be on the deluxe edition of his 2014 debut Chaos and The Calm, which went straight to number one on the charts in the UK.
Ready to discover new artists? See shows near you.
Words by Sofar Editorial Team
Photo credit: Andra Day, photo by Diane Valera
