Jam! Events #COVID19 Keep A-Live & Stream in Tbilisi

Psychonaut 4, Jam! Events Keep A-Live & Stream, Tbilisi, Georgia
© Onnik James Krikorian 2021

Another year has been and gone in the COVID-19 pandemic. Though 2020 was largely defined by the absence of any live gigs in Tbilisi I was at least fortunate enough to be able to attend band rehearsals and in September that year a special live-streamed event by Jam! Events in cooperation with the city municipality. This September, a repeat event was held and I was also fortunate to again be part of a physical audience made up of band members, technicians, and a few friends.

Both events were the brainchild of local rock and metal promoter Eric Hutchence, the man behind Jam! Events and also what was the yearly Wacken Metal Battle-Caucasus, a competition that gave an opportunity to metal bands from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to face-off against each other for a coveted place in the Wacken metal music festival held annually in Germany.  Sadly, because of the pandemic, new formats for the competition might have to be explored for this to continue.

Anyway, it was good to meet old friends from my time filming Tbilisi Underground, a personal project to present the underground punk and metal scene in the Georgian capital to both a domestic and foreign audience. Unfortunately, when international media does visit Georgia it instead fixates on the electronic music scene despite there being way more to local music than just that and even though bands like Psychonaut 4 have found success well outside of the country’s borders.

The punk scene is especially interesting because most of the bands perform in Georgian and thus can be understood by more of the population. The same is true for the hip-hop scene, something that is considered to be especially vibrant in Georgia, and even Psychonaut 4’s last album was in Georgian as well. This makes tracks like this one below all the more important in conveying a message against drug abuse, for example.

So thanks to Eric and Jam! Events as usual and I hope that we’ll eventually see live gigs and festivals with a physical audience return soon enough, pandemic permitting. Until then, below are galleries of some of the bands that performed last Sunday in Tbilisi.

Rock on. 🤘😷

Lady Heroine, Jam! Events Keep A-Live & Stream, Tbilisi, Georgia
© Onnik James Krikorian 2021

Letter, Jam! Events Keep A-Live & Stream, Tbilisi, Georgia
© Onnik James Krikorian 2021

Dismorial, Jam! Events Keep A-Live & Stream, Tbilisi, Georgia
© Onnik James Krikorian 2021

Psychonaut 4, Jam! Events Keep A-Live & Stream, Tbilisi, Georgia
© Onnik James Krikorian 2021