Coronavirus: Common and Niall Horan put out home concerts, urge fans to practice social distancing
American rapper Common and Irish singer-songwriter Niall Horan have put out their own live-stream home concerts amid the coronavirus pandemic. Both the artists put out their videos on March 19. Their performances are the latest additions to the World Health Organization's virtual concert series, 'Together at Home'. Their concerts come after performances by Coldplay's Chris Martin (who was first to perform on the show), Charlie Puth and John Legend.
The IGTV virtual series aims at unifying humanity during the COVID-19 pandemic and the broadcasts this week are a part of the World Health Organization's campaign for their Solidarity Response Fund. It has been created to help victims of the pandemic and prevent its worldwide spread.
The Grammy-winning rapper Common performed a number of songs from his home in Brooklyn, New York, as well as broke out in freestyle and joked with fans. “This ‘Together, At Home’ thing is something I really got excited about because, for me, when a lot is going on in the world or even within myself, music is something that brings me a lot of peace,” Common said, adding, “I just want to share the music with all y’all and to encourage all of you at home,” he said. “We will be alright. Just wash our hands, take care of ourselves, take care of each other, pay attention to social distancing".
Niall, who released his sophomore solo album 'Heartbreak Weather' last week, put out a 35-minute clip of his performance for the series. In the video he looked comfy in his stay-at-home attire and performed with just an acoustic guitar, playing a solid mixture of hits from his debut LP 'Flicker' and new songs including 'Slow Hands', 'Nice To Meet Ya', 'No Judgement', 'This Town', 'Flicker', 'Black and White' and more. He reminded fans of maintaining social distancing during this time, washing hands and keeping a distance from elderly people. He noted that his family had been communicating with his own grandmother only over the phone and through the window of her house. He said, “People my age aren’t really taking this seriously,” and urged everyone to "not hang out with your mates" during the pandemic.
Following his slot on the show, Horan thanked the WHO and Global Citizen on Twitter for having him be a part of the series. He also mentioned that Hozier and One Republic would be appearing on the show on March 20.
Read a review on Niall Horan's latest album 'Heartbreak Weather' here.
Watch Common's performance here
Watch Nial Horan's performance here.