Being a part of Sirens Play at Home

Posted: 27th April 2021

For the 2021 POW! Thanet festival, our Sirens group performed an incredible live online gig, ‘Play at Home’ to audiences across the globe, in celebration of International Women’s Day. Here, group member Zoe tells us about the experience…

The Sirens event for POW! was the first project that we were involved in as part of Pie’s new programme, funded by Youth Music. As a group, we all learnt a lot about not only performing in an event, but what goes on behind the scenes, and how much time and focus can go into something like that.

We learnt about the people taking part and all the responsibilities that come with every role, with each member helping out. The event was also a way of demonstrating our talents and ambitions, and after such a challenging year it was a nice way to get a taste of performing again. Covid-19 has affected a lot of things in the past year, and sadly the event was one of them. However, as a team, we managed to overcome the obstacle of not being able to perform live in an outside venue, by performing from our homes via zoom, using our ‘screens as a stage’. This taught us some new lessons and experiences, while still keeping that performance atmosphere and excitement.

We had the exciting opportunity to be invited to perform as part of the POW! Festival, in which the theme was ‘Power in Protest’. That theme really drove our group and sparked a lot of creation, helping us to decide what we believe protest to be. We all thought up different ideas and images of what we see when we think of protest, helping us with the choice of our songs and background designs.

The people who organised the event were Demi, Annabel, Ellie, Tami, Betsy, Harmony, Zoe, Daisy Beau (our fabulous mentor), Rachel (Pie) and Chevonne (Pie), with Harmony, Ellie, Tami and Zoe performing, Daisy Beau gave a guest performance and Betsy was our fabulous compere.

Doing an online event brought all sorts of advantages and disadvantages. However, it really made us think outside the box. While the circumstances were not what we originally anticipated, it was fun to think of new ways to enjoy and impress the viewers at home. It also gave us a chance to be watched by a larger audience, as there were viewers from around the world who could watch the event from their house!

The atmosphere was amazing on the night of the event. Even though we couldn’t see the audience in front of us, the nerves and adrenaline were still running high. One of the most enjoyable things about the event was seeing how far everyone had come, and that really showed in their chosen pieces.

It was such an honour to be a part of POW! this year and beyond, singing our songs and making our backgrounds, we got to meet some amazingly talented people who were working on producing the event and lining everything up. We also met the people in charge of all the sound and where that sound comes from. Even though it was a virtual event, it reflected a lot on what an in-person event would involve. It was so great to be able to enjoy performing despite the circumstances and the curveballs we were thrown this year. If anything, it taught us all a good lesson in adapting to change and being resilient with carrying on.

– Zoe