Live Report: Janet Devlin brings her infectious energy to StageIt

The music world is still attempting to navigate live performance during the Coronavirus. Recently, Facebook Live announced that it would be allowing for performers to charge audiences for tuning into their livestreams, but platforms like Instagram have yet to monetise their live section.

StageIt, however, has been around for years, allowing artists to deliver live streamed gigs from the comfort (and safety!) of their own homes. Janet Devlin has engaged with audiences via StageIt over one hundred times in her fledgling career – she's a pioneer of the platform, and it showed at her live show last night.

Devlin spent the first few minutes of the show chatting with viewers about her recently released album Confessional – which Hot Press tipped a breath of fresh air – and its accompanying book My Confessional. 

When the Tyrone native opened her set, it was with Confessional ballad 'Better Now.' Devlin has been renowned for her first-rate voice since participating on The X Factor as a contestant back in 2011, and it was in fine form as she moved through the album's catalogue, shining particularly on the haunting 'Speak' and full-throated 'Saint of The Sinners'. One of the show's uncontested highlights was her uniquely beautiful cover of Elvis' 'Can't Help Falling In Love'.

What is perhaps most surprising about this show is how intimate Devlin managed to make it feel, despite the fact that she was being watched through a screen. I was skeptical at the start, but Devlin cultivates an air of comfortability on the platform. Joking with her audience of fans as though they were old friends, the young singer-songwriter rang the "space gong" every time she received a tip from one of her viewers. Discussion throughout the show ran the gamut from Devlin's alcoholism to amusing anecdotes about the London heat. In all, it was a surprisingly pleasant experience.