NIVA Unveils Its 2025 Live List

The Live List, done in partnership with Paste and The Black List, is honoring 49 acts this year.

NIVA Unveils Its 2025 Live List
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On Monday, we put the spotlight on 10 artists from the National Independent Venue Association’s (NIVA) 2024 Live List, seeing where some of our favorite bands and artists are now after a year packed to the brim with phenomenal live shows. Now, NIVA has officially unveiled its 2025 Live List in partnership with the Black List. NIVA partnered with The Black List—a platform that connects writers in film, television and theater with industry professionals in those industries via its annual list of most liked unproduced screenplays, online writing database, writers labs and corporate and non-profit partnerships—in 2023 to release the inaugural list.

Compiled from suggestions of more than 1,000 member venues and promoters—which included them contributing the names of as many as 10 favorite up-and-coming live touring artists—the Live List is a curated popular vote that reflects the values and interests of the NIVA community, which represents independent live performance venues, promoters, and festivals throughout the U.S. capitalizing on the expertise of entertainment professionals who dedicate countless nights a year to seeing live shows and furthering artists’ careers in the process.

“Independent stages are the launch pad for up-and-coming artists, and they have been for generations,” says Stephen Parker, Executive Director of NIVA. “The Live List elevates the role that everyone from bookers to the box office plays at our venues and festivals to make sure the world continues to have a next generation of artists over and over again. We applaud the artists on this list who put their heart and soul into touching the audiences and live professionals that they played in front of last year. Go and see how special they are on the smaller stages before they are playing arenas all over the world.”

This year’s edition of the Live List features the following artists: 49 Winchester, Angie McMahon, The Armed, Atsuko Okatsuka, The Beaches, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Buffering the Vampire Slayer, CMAT, Deoohgee, Doechii, Dora Jar, Ducks Ltd., Ekko Astral, Elizabeth Moen, Evan Honer, Friko, GEL, Hinds, Humbird, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Jalen Ngonda, Jessica Pratt, Jesus Christ Taxi Driver, John Early, Joe P, Josiah and the Bonnevilles, Kate Bollinger, Kokoroko, La Luz, Luna Li, Maggie Antone, Mannequin Pussy, Mdou Moctar, Michael Marcagi, Militarie Gun, Minami Deutsch, Mon Rovia, Orion Sun, Rudy Love & the Encore, Sarah Kinsley, Sawyer Hill, SNACKTIME, Social Cinema, Squirrel Flower, Sweet Pill, Taylor Hunnicutt, This Is Lorelei, Tommy Newport and Wishy. Check out 10 artists from the list we here at Paste adore below.

Atsuko Okatsuka

The 2020s have been quite good to Atsuko Okatsuka, the Taiwanese-American stand-up comedian who’s helped shape this decade’s funny bone. She was only the second Asian-American woman to ever have a stand-up special on HBO, and her work has been noticed and amplified by the likes of James Corden, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and PBS Newshour. Her debut special, The Intruder, was a critical success upon arrival in 2022, and she even had a role in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in 2023. I still think about her episode of This American Life more than a year after it first aired. In 2024, she became a regular feature on After Midnight and remains a major presence in the comedy sphere. She’s also a perennially great podcast guest, showing up on programs like WTF with Marc Maron and Las Culturistas. My gut tells me that her next stand-up special could land this year; if she’s performing in your city, give yourself a gift and buy a ticket.

Doechii

Few artists had the type of 2024 that Doechii was blessed with. The “swamp princess” rose to prominence on TikTok a few years ago, earning her a contract with Top Dawg Entertainment, an EP called She / Her / Black Bitch and a Hot 100-charting single with Kodak Black (“What It Is (Block Boy)”). But her 2024 mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, gave her true A-list status, thanks to songs like “DENIAL IS A RIVER,” “NISSAN ALTIMA” and “WAIT.” Oh, and her song with JT, “Alter Ego,” wound up on our year-end best songs list. Doechii went on to win a Rising Star Award from Billboard Women in Music, while also nabbing nominations at the Grammys (including Best Rap Album), MTV VMAs, BET Awards and Soul Train Music Awards. She also showed up on Tyler, the Creator’s song “BALLOON” and Katy Perry’s “I’m His, He’s Mine.” But her arguably biggest moment was in a much smaller setting, as she turned up at NPR’s headquarters and performed one of the best Tiny Desk Concerts in recent memory. In terms of rising stars, I can’t think of many who are currently burning brighter than Doechii.

Ekko Astral

Last year, Ekko Astral came screaming into view. The D.C. band’s debut album, pink balloons, solidified them as one of the best up-and-coming acts alive. I had the opportunity to watch the group—Jael Holzman, Liam Hughes and Miri Tyler—blow Paste’s East Austin Block Party to smithereens at SXSW, and, in-between their blistering renditions of songs bubbling over with ferocity, they delivered messages in support of Palestine and against the capitalistic, violent machine that put an irredeemable dent on an already-flawed festival. It was a small resolve of optimism, and it helped kick-start one of the 2024’s best year-long run-ups to stardom. Ekko Astral are furthering the lineage of punk’s greatest epicenter, carrying the torch first lit by Minor Threat, Fugazi, the Faith and Bad Brains. pink balloons wound up on a few of our year-end lists, and their summer US tour was one for the ages. The sky’s the limit in 2025 for Ekko Astral. Last month, they posted on Instagram that their next album is done. They’re playing a show on January 24 in Manhattan, alongside the wonderful Greg Freeman. What comes after that is bound to be terrific.

Friko

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that very few publications have been as locked into Friko’s work as Paste. We were lucky enough to publish an exclusive feature on the duo when they announced their debut record, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here, in late 2023, and the project was one of our very favorites by the end of 2024, clocking in at #4 on our best albums of the year list. It was one of the highest placements we’ve ever given a debut LP on a year-end roundup, and Friko deserve every bit of acclaim they get. Last year, they played shows in the US, Asia and Europe, becoming one of the most in-demand bands and having one hell of a 12-month stretch. They played a mind-melting set at our East Austin Block Party, filling a small bar room to the brim and performing “Get Numb to It!,” “Crashing Through” and “IN_OUT” at full volume. It was glorious. In 2025, Friko will hit the road again and travel across North America with Peel Dream Magazine and Starcleaner Reunion. They’ve been lapping up all the hype, and no venue in this country is too small for where they’re headed.

Hinds

At Paste’s SXSW party last March, Hinds took the main stage to kick off our third and final day of music. It was a noon start time, still early for most festival-goers who would be lingering from event to event throughout the day. You can never bank on a crowd filling out at the beginning of everything during South By Southwest week, especially when the previous night’s capers are still reverberating into the dawn. All I could predict was it would be a broiling afternoon and that, as the clock ticked upward to 12, it was like Hinds had summoned all of Central Texas to High Noon. It was easily the biggest crowd of the week, as folks spilled into E Cesar Chavez Street and folded up onto the pavement of the neighboring Coral Snake. Watching Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote play the classics (“Just Like Kids (Miau),” “New For You”) and some fresh joints (“Coffee”) was so rapturous that it felt like they were from Texas. Their performance of their brand new, Daniel Johnston-referencing tune “Hi, How Are You” certainly didn’t hurt the cause. But of course, Hinds are firmly from Madrid; it’s their fandom that spans so many global meccas that you need more than two hands to count just how many countries love them. It’s why more than a hundred folks came out to see Hinds play a quick set in the stew of an Austin swelter, and it’s the purest example of why Cosials and Perrote are one of the best touring bands alive.

“The Live List 2025 is the result of over 1,000 NIVA members that actively book, promote, and attend hundreds—if not thousands—of shows throughout the year. They are ground zero for emerging talent and have the proven ability to identify those that will have long and sustainable careers,” says Jordan Anderson, Troubadour Talent Booker and The Live List Task Force Co-chair. “The Live List has been the perfect initiative for NIVA to help foster these acts in our venues and beyond.”

Jessica Pratt

Last month, we named Jessica Pratt’s Here in the Pitch our #1 album of the year. It was an easy choice, as Pratt returned after a five-year absence with the best project of her career so far. The nine songs that make up her fourth album tend to simmer, never climaxing into some larger-than-life climax or euphoric finale. Instead, they rest in the meters of pop excellence, forgoing any urges to sprawl. Here in the Pitch is an album that exists exactly for someone like me—someone who is deeply fascinated by the underbellies of Southern California, by the mythology of a city ravaged by serial killers, drugs, more musical and social movements than anyone could count and a never-healing source of unrest. Too, Pratt was on the road practically non-stop from May through December, hitting up festivals like Primavera Sound, Pitchfork Music Festival, Take Root, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Woodsist and Kevin Morby’s This Is A Festival. Oh, and she also choogled through a headlining tour of her own, stopping at all the haunts in North America. Looking ahead to 2025, she’ll be stopping at Treefort and Big Ears before traipsing through the Deep South with Merce Lemon.

John Early

You know who had a great 2024? John Early. The comedian, actor and performer turned his stand-up special, Now More Than Ever, into a musical revue—fleshing out his “Vicky with a V” character, covering Neil Young and Aliyah, performing with his backing band the Lemon Squares and raising the bar of his already-beloved material. He toured the United States last year, playing a “fun lap around the country” without any desire to turn his shows into a special. Instead, he incorporated songs into the sets that aren’t on the accompanying Now More Than Ever album, like the Everly Brothers’ “All I Have to Do is Dream.” He and Michael A. Hesslein (Hess) have built a system together and, when he’s on stage, Early is a gifted performer who can so effortlessly package ideas and tangents without rigidity. It’s all elemental, a microcosm of humor populated by one man spinning his “tangled web of content.” The rest of us are merely tourists. For much of the tour, it was just Early and Hess sharing a stage (well, and the audience member subjected to Early’s seductive gyrating during “Rock the Boat”), performing to backing tracks Hess built out. It was a different beast, the two-person set-up, than what Early put together for the Now More Than Ever special, but it was a welcome tonal shift. His language was a crucial part of 2024. In 2025, everything’s going to be coming up John Early!

SNACKTIME

If you were with us at the East Austin Block Party in March, then you’re well aware of the absolutely splendid, raucous and funkified kind of show Philadelphia seven-piece SNACKTIME put on. Combining their influences, which range from jazz to rap to rock to punk and R&B, SNACKTIME are one of the most original ensembles out there right now. They’ve been churning out tunes consistently, including their very good 2024 single “SPACELUV,” which sounds as indebted to Parliament-Funkadelic as it does Bloc Party. Despite leveling up from doing free shows at Rittenhouse Square during the early chapters of the pandemic (they are now opening for bands like Portugal. The Man and Tegan and Sara), SNACKTIME haven’t lost sense of their roots. Their music is a joyous explosion that sounds great at festivals and sold-out sets across the country. Last October, they released the THIS IS DANCE MUSIC EP and toured across the country, even playing on the top of a mountain. We can only hope that they’ll release their debut album this year or, at the very least, keep feeding us that sweet, sweet Philadelphia chaos.

Squirrel Flower

How good is Squirrel Flower’s live set? So good that she can call up her best buds on short notice and, on a whim, get them all on a stage for a 15-minute rendition of Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s “Cortez the Killer.” But what is so incredible about Ella Williams’ performances is how unpredictable they can be. One minute, she’s dicing up crowds with head-splitting, full-throttle indie rock; sometimes, it’s just her and her Gibson SG on-stage, as she delivers tunes from a 10-year career. I think Williams is among our brightest living musicians, and her work is so often a balm. I’ve been a broken record about the song “Alley Light” for more than a year now—but it’s simply one of the greatest songs of all time, sorry. Next month, Williams will play two shows back-to-back at Top Note Theater in Chicago in celebration of her first decade as a recording artist. After that, she’ll hit the road with 2024 Live List alum Annie DiRusso for some shows on the East Coast. While she’s not quite bound to a perma-tour, I’d imagine that Squirrel Flower will be on the road again for much of 2025—that is, unless she hits the studio to make the follow-up to Tomorrow’s Fire. If that’s the case, we would be so lucky.

This Is Lorelei

2024 was the year of Nate Amos, and 2025 should be no different. A prolific, brilliant singer, songwriter and producer, Amos has made quite a bit of noise with both of his bands, This Is Loreli and Water From Your Eyes. While WFYE hit the road often last year, even opening for Interpol in front of a crowd of 100,000 people in Mexico City. But, by year’s end, This Is Lorelei had risen from the underground of Amos’ laptop into something of an indie darling. Box For Buddy, Box For Star became a critical hit, landing on numerous year-end lists (including a few of ours). The band toured through SXSW and even played some shows with Dehd. Last week, This Is Lorelei began their three-month winter tour with youbet and Starcleaner Reunion, which will carry all the way through early April. He’ll also be at Primavera Sound in June.Knowing Amos’ recording habits, I’m certain he’ll have another project of some kind on the way after that.

“Now in its third year, The Live List is a testament to independent venues, festivals and promoters, providing a platform for artists to cultivate their talent. We see acts that really have the ability to go the distance and, with that, we believe The Live List is a way for us to continue to help develop and foster these artists as they move forward in their careers,” says Jake Diamond, the Marketing Director for Union Stage Presents and The Live List Task Force Co-chair.

 
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