This Artist's Live Shows Were Cancelled Because Of Coronavirus — Now She's Going On A "URL Tour" Of Social Media

L Devine is one of many artists taking to social media to perform for fans after the coronavirus pandemic affected their tour plans.

This is British singer-songwriter L Devine, one of many musicians whose tour plans have been affected by the worldwide coronavirus crisis.

Instagram: @ldevinemusic

Last week, it was announced that Fletcher's UK and European tour — for which Devine was the supporting act — had been postponed until later this year...

L Devine @LDevineMusic

Sending you loads of love girl!! 💔 https://t.co/fG34ZgN9o3

04:09 PM - 10 Mar 2020

And a few days later, Devine announced that she was still, in fact, going on tour — a ~URL tour~ — playing live shows across various different social media platforms.

L Devine / Twitter: @LDevineMusic

Speaking to BuzzFeed News, Devine said she came up with the idea as a way to connect with different audiences and fans in the same way she would if she was going on tour IRL.

"I thought that spreading out the dates on different social media platforms would almost have the same effect as playing in different cities," she said. "I’d be playing to a different audience at each show — similarly, I’ll be playing to different people on TikTok than I would be on Instagram, for example."

The first show, on Monday, was an acoustic set of five songs played on Instagram live from her mum's living room in Newcastle.

Instagram: @ldevinemusic

Devine said the response to the first show was "unreal", and that she'd received messages from fans telling her it had helped them through the boredom and anxiety of self-isolation.

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"[They] said that the livestream made them feel really happy and took their mind off things," Devine told BuzzFeed News. "And that’s exactly what I want to get out of these shows. I just want to bring some light to this difficult situation, so I’m absolutely over the moon with the response."

She also said she's making the shows interactive by taking song requests and answering questions from fans in between tracks.

"My favourite parts of live shows are when I stay behind afterwards and meet the fans, so I wanted to still try and do that somehow through this URL tour," she said.

As for the four remaining shows — on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube — Devine says she has a lot of plans, including getting her band and crew involved so they won't miss out on the work they had scheduled this spring.

Ollie Millington / Redferns

"It was necessary," Devine said of the shows being postponed. "It’s definitely put quite a lot into perspective for me too. I know I’ll never take playing live shows or going to watch artists I love play their shows for granted now!"

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She also said she hopes more artists will consider doing shows live on social media while the coronavirus pandemic continues.

"I think it’s so important that we all come together and try to spread as much happiness as we can at a time like this where a lot of people are very anxious and unsure about what is going on," she said, "and online is the safest way to do that!"

Meanwhile, other artists have been doing similar livestreams this week, with Chris Martin and John Legend both performing mini "concerts" from their homes and Miley Cyrus launching a live talk show series on Instagram.

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And as for L Devine, stay tuned for the next stop of the URL Tour this Friday on Twitter!