During the lockdown, New Hope Club have been no strangers to the odd livestream concert and over the last two months, they have been doing their own virtual tour. Every few days, Reece, Blake and George would go live on YouTube for different countries. Anyone from around the world could still watch the lives but they would perform for the specific country as if they were actually there. Fans created posters for every country and if they were used, they got credited for them.
The band have been live-streaming almost every day since the beginning of July from George’s family home. Sunday was the final date of the tour and it was specifically for the UK fans. As well as submitting their own artwork for the thumbnail and posters, fans could also comment on the livestream using YouTube comments, Super Chat or using the hashtag on Twitter. The best tweets would then come up along the bottom of the screen so the boys could read them out and interact with the user who had sent it in.
For the UK’s livestream, several fans’ posters made it into the thumbnail of the video (mine included!) and everyone in the YouTube comments was so excited, especially when the countdown started. The boys came on the live and chatted to the fans for a little bit first then they began to sing their most recent single ‘Worse’. All the songs they sing on the lives are acoustic with George and Blake on acoustic guitars, and Reece using a chair drum.
The three-piece have always claimed to be inspired by The Beatles, and they almost always cover one of their songs during their shows. This UK livestream was no different as they covered a classic Beatles song. After that, they played a video from their tour documentary of all the highlights of the UK tour last year. It was great to reminisce on the tour but it shows just how much everyone is missing live music right now. They also put up some teasers of their new music video for ‘Just To Find Love’ that has only just come out. They sang this song to end the livestream, just before a highlights video commemorating the tour, and this song being played last was extremely fitting since the music video was coming out the same night.
As well as playing some music for their fans, they chatted to them through the comments section and through tweets that were sent in. They chatted about their favourite Harry Potter movie and sang personal and spontaneous songs for fans who’d asked to be cheered up. George even got the chance to introduce his new miniature Goldendoodle who he’s named ‘Pepper’ after The Beatles’ album ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. You can re-watch it below.
Alongside the virtual tour, the boys also released an extended edition of their self-titled debut album. The extended version contains six more songs that were described as ‘personal’ to each member for different reasons. One of these songs is ‘Just To Find Love’ which featured on the livestream and the music video for it is out now. The tracks are available to listen to on streaming platforms right now.