You know how sometimes you make great big plans, and the world laughs? Well, we do. The week following our grand arrival at Sub 51, COVID restrictions banned in-person gatherings indefinitely. One week you start a concert production business, and the next week concerts are cancelled. What now? Enter the world of digital livestreaming.

​

Thumps was invited to play Hang at Home Fest by Firenze, an Italian street food restaurant who was doing a fundraiser to provide meals for front line healthcare workers laboring around the clock due to the pandemic. This show was going to be a key driver to hitting their goal. Stoked to be a part of the great cause, there was one catch: we had to setup our own livestream…never done that before. Oh, and we had less than a week to figure it out.

​

I kicked it into high gear and learned everything there is to know about livestreaming in a matter of five days. On short notice, I borrowed a good-enough video camera from a friend, taught myself broadcasting software OBS Studio, set up the audio & visual connections, and integrated our feed to the festival Twitch account where the show would be hosted. And because Goosethumps always goes the extra mile, I pulled out all the stops: a 2nd camera to capture our turntables up close, tons of unique 4K visuals, and a number of different scenes to make sure we stood out of the crowd.

​

Hang at Home went on to raise over $6,000, helping provide meals for 1,400 healthcare workers. The livestream event generated 2,000 unique viewers, with Goosethumps bringing the highest concurrent viewership at 600. We knocked it out of the park on an advanced timeline, rapidly learning new technology to make it happen, and created a huge win for the Goosethumps brand and our community.