On Live Music (515 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.18 on 21 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Skinny Kenny (View user info) at 2006-01-05 10:20:18 EST
To quote Robert Fripp, "Records and live performance are two worlds. One is a love letter, the other a hot date."
In a live performance, there is no editing, no taking it back. What you do in the immediate moment is the last chance you'll ever have to say or do anything about it. It's in the history books, so to speak. That's why it's so honest of an art, an expression. It's all you, the performer, stripped bare to the essence of what you are, what you're about. Who you are and how you are. That's how, when you go to a show and see a band live, you know if they're really musicians, or puppets dangling on the strings of the corporate money machine.
Example: Def Leppard. Do you think they're doing exactly what they want to do, or do you think they're being influenced by what management tells them the latest polls say will sell?
Second Example: All the bands who will let you record their shows for free. Just don't sell what you record. Trade and distribute it freely, but don't turn it into a capital venture.
That's why bands like Widespread Panic, Phish (Trey), Les Claypool, Government Mule, Grateful Dead, all make plenty of money and keep coming back and just keep playing, making something new every time they hit the stage. Jerry once said, "Once we play it, we're done with it."
I've seen a lot of shows:
Corporate (maybe I should say formula) bands: ZZ Top, Motley Crue, Poison, Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Guns n Roses. Their shows are the same every night. I worked a lot of them as a local stage hand (read manual labor). Axl Rose sat in his dressing room for 30-40 minutes after the set change was done - kept the crowd waiting - and got fucked up before he finally got around to going on stage. And then they played less than an hour. What an asshole. That is an allegory for what I'm calling "Corporate Music," "Boardroom Controlled Fluff for the Masses." Somebody does a study, writes a report, puts together a Powerpoint presentation that summarizes the statistics of what their study says is what will sell to the widest demographic. Brittany Spears is a prime example.
Then I've been to a lot of "Jam Band" shows. I saw Blues Traveler open for Widespread in Knoxville around 1989. They played the Alumni Gym on UT campus. There might have been 4000 people there. I've been to a couple of Lolloapaloozas. There might have been 40,000 people there. Same bands, same philosophy. I've been to Furthur. The Black Crows were onstage with Arlo Guthrie and Bob Weir, all playing together. Those bands play what they like, as long as they like, however they like. Regardless of what some suit tells them to do. Bottom line is I've seen a lot more people and a lot more happy faces at this kind of show. Those kinds of bands don't sell through the media, though. They don't sell a lot of albums. They sell their product to an audieance who is willing to travel to a venue to buy what they're selling every night: Their live performance. Their art. Their spontaneous self expression. That's what makes the difference. Nowdays, anybody can sit in the studio, play a shitty guitar riff , and have the sound crew process the shit out of it to make it sound good.
To sum it up: Play something that is open to interpretation by every musician in the band during any given performance. Let everybody feel free to try a different chord progression during the bridge than they did the night before. Make it a dynamic process. That way, it's more like real life: No matter how hard you try to plan things out, the situation will always change and you will have to improvise.
User Reviews
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2006-01-06 01:15:21 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by DrRobertHand (user info) at 2006-01-05 15:28:40 (#)
Ranking: -1
Lolloapaloozas is perhaps the best example of corporate sponsered entertainment that I can think of right now.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
wrong <ding!> next contestant.........noone else is even close to: Clear Channel
Submitted by fluff (user info) at 2006-01-05 18:00:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah; go for 12 tones I say.
FFS!
Submitted by DrRobertHand (user info) at 2006-01-05 15:28:40 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Lolloapaloozas is perhaps the best example of corporate sponsered entertainment that I can think of right now. I think you have it in the wrong category.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-01-05 14:36:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
If the kids...are united...they will never...be divided.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-01-05 14:13:20 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Are you saying Lolloapaloozas arent cleverly packged corporate music? Anywhere you pay 6 bucks for water it is run by a "suit"
Submitted by SkinnyKenny (user info) at 2006-01-05 13:00:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-01-05 12:38:01 (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm a sucker for live music- I find that there are bands whose recorded music can pretty much suck, but they put on an energetic, fun live show.. so they get credit for that. As I get older, though, I'm losing my taste for live shows in large arenas(unless the band has a sound that especially calls for a large enough place for their acoustics). I had seen Metallica 10 times before they sucked, along with a handful of Phish shows and other stadium fillers. These days, with few exceptions, I find indie shows at smaller venues much more rewarding
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Same here.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-01-05 12:38:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm a sucker for live music- I find that there are bands whose recorded music can pretty much suck, but they put on an energetic, fun live show.. so they get credit for that. As I get older, though, I'm losing my taste for live shows in large arenas(unless the band has a sound that especially calls for a large enough place for their acoustics). I had seen Metallica 10 times before they sucked, along with a handful of Phish shows and other stadium fillers. These days, with few exceptions, I find indie shows at smaller venues much more rewarding.
Submitted by cat_head (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:50:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Wise words. Liked it.
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:48:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
indie kids are neurotic.
Submitted by phuzzygish (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:33:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Foolproof (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:22:01 (#)
Ranking: -1
HOLY SHIT! I've traveled in time to 1987!
Who cares about Def Leppard?
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I really wish I could make some comment about glove makers or something. But I got nothing.
Submitted by SkinnyKenny (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:32:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:27:48 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Drone_of_Industry (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:13:41 (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah corporate music sux. We know. I wouldn't say jam bands are not the antidote. You don't necessarily have to play something with different chords evey show. But yeh, it's all about the energy, the personality, the authenticity, the experience for a good live show. There are prolly some other factors too, but whatever.
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It's all about the flow....how the musicians can interact with each other, not memorizing chord patterns and timing from an album.
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Exactly. Not necessarily making it up as you go along, but adapting to the psychic atmosphere permeating the venue and rolling with the flow of energy between the crowd and the band.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:27:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Drone_of_Industry (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:13:41 (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah corporate music sux. We know. I wouldn't say jam bands are not the antidote. You don't necessarily have to play something with different chords evey show. But yeh, it's all about the energy, the personality, the authenticity, the experience for a good live show. There are prolly some other factors too, but whatever.
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It's all about the flow....how the musicians can interact with each other, not memorizing chord patterns and timing from an album.
Submitted by Drone_of_Industry (user info) at 2006-01-05 11:13:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah corporate music sux. We know. I wouldn't say jam bands are not the antidote. You don't necessarily have to play something with different chords evey show. But yeh, it's all about the energy, the personality, the authenticity, the experience for a good live show. There are prolly some other factors too, but whatever.
Submitted by MyTeeOne (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:52:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm a music junky so I understand what you're saying. There are a few local bands around here who I am digging so much because I saw them live. I picked up a CD of a band I saw the other night and it was good, but it wasn't as good as the live experience.
Submitted by SkinnyKenny (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:51:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:34:30 (#)
Ranking: 2
How fucked up is to hear Chris Robinson sing a Pigpen song?
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Pretty fucked up.
Submitted by HighVoltage900 (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:35:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by nitty34 (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:31:46 (#)
Ranking: -1
Try as I might, I can't find this post the slightest bit interesting.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:34:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
How fucked up is to hear Chris Robinson sing a Pigpen song?
Submitted by nitty34 (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:31:46 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Try as I might, I can't find this post the slightest bit interesting.
Submitted by lordofduct (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:30:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
what now?
I don't care about you and your really crappy bands.
Submitted by Foolproof (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:22:01 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
HOLY SHIT! I've traveled in time to 1987!
Who cares about Def Leppard?
Submitted by SkinnyKenny (user info) at 2006-01-05 10:21:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Shit, meant to attach a pic of Cliff Burton. Oh well.