Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner is playing a livestreaming gig to benefit her bandmates and crew

In an ideal world, we’d be gearing up to see Japanese Breakfast twice in the next couple months; the indie favorites had a regional gig lined up at Atlantic City’s Anchor Rock Club, and a huge New York show a short drive away opening for Bright Eyes at Brooklyn’s Forest Hills Stadium, both of which were cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 health crisis.

These were hardly the only events on the JBrekkie itinerary that had to be called off — the band was in the process of rolling out its summer tour dates when the pandemic hit — and to help make up for lost work, frontperson Michelle Zauner announced today that she’d be playing a ticketed livestream concert on Thursday, May 14th to benefit her band and road crew (which frequently includes Rachel Dispenza of Coping Skills).

As Michelle writes:

I wanted to put together a live stream of some new songs and special covers to help support my crew while we are unable to tour, which is to say, unable to work and earn income. I’ve also commissioned a special design (more on that later) that features my band family, Craig, Deven, Peter, Harry & Rachel, to help raise some money to make up for many months of touring we’ve had to cancel. I hope you will join me May 14 at 7pm EDT. xoxo Michelle

Tickets can be purchased here. Japanese Breakfast’s last studio LP, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, came out in 2017, and their single “Essentially” dropped last summer. During the pandemic, Zauner also took part in a virtual hang with Lauren Mayberry of CVRCHES, Joe Talbot of IDLES, and more on Apple Music; watch below.