Live music and cool recorded playlists have always been on the top of our list of airport amenities we love. And during the pandemic, live music was one of the amenities airports had to discontinue.
But it looks like many of the live music programs at airports are coming back.
We were in the McCarran Airport this week for a few hours and enjoyed hearing many of these songs from their “Voice of Vegas” Spotify playlist.
In a ‘normal’ year, we’d be going to airports all the time. And in many of those airports, there would be local musicians playing for us while we wait for our flights.
The pandemic means that in most airports, live music isn’t happening. And it also means the musicians who would have been playing at airports have lost those gigs. And the income from those gigs.
Pre-pandemic, for example, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) was programming live music 7 days a week in multiple places in the terminal. In 2020 and 2021, the schedule was being expanded, with more stages and more music.
While we wait for that programming to come back, SEA is doing what it can for the musicians. And for passengers who miss the music.
The airport has just installed a new 12X7-foot, high-resolution digital LED music wall on Concourse C that is showing a two-hour program highlighting more than 30 musicians who played at the airport before the pandemic.
Enjoy it here or in the airport. And tip the musicians if you can.
Fans of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) will want to start downloading and listening to the airport’s podcast series, The Austin Approach, which gives listeners “a look into all things AUS.”
Episodes will drop twice a month and feature interviews with airport staff, news and updates from around the airport, and insider stories about airport life.  The episodes are on the AUS website and available to stream on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and PodBean.
Just in time for holiday travel, California’s Fresno Yostemite International Airport (which already features a unique indoor forest experience) is upping the art and entertainment experiences for passengers.
The airport has introduced its first-ever Holiday Music Program, which this season will greet arriving and departing passengers with live performances on a seven foot Steinway grand piano.
https://www.facebook.com/FresnoYosemiteInternational/videos/2018166898418958/
Five pianists will perform for travelers during peak flight times, with extra performances planned for the airport’s late-night departures to Guadalajara, Mexico. The performances will also be live-streamed on the video wall in the airport’s central lobby.
Fresno Yosemite International Airport also rolled out a new Art at the Airport program, with the inaugurual exhibit, âThis is Central Californiaâ showcasing a wide variety of work by Fresno and the Central Valleyâs artists.
Look for the multiple exhibits on the first and second floors near boarding gates, where permanent art galleries are located.