Performance, yay. Recital, nay.
Why do I go to concerts? Why do I shell out money that would otherwise be used for wine, travel and food (or, in dire circumstances, bills) to stand around in a room full of sweaty obnoxious people and listen to music I already own on CD?
The answer is: I don't. At least, not on purpose. I do go to concerts, but not to listen to the music I have on CD. I go for the performance. I go to hear a bluegrass cover of "Father Figure"(ala "Girlyman.") Or to experience the energy as a charismatic guitarist rockets into the audience to be surrounded by screaming fans as he blasts through a song(recent example: Butch Walker). Or even, to stand in stunned awe as a plucky Australian manages to silence a packed New York City concert hall for a completely acoustic second encore(Ben Lee, I am still in awe, I've never seen anybody get that many people -especially New Yorkers - to be that quiet).
In short, I go for a performance, I want riffs, and interaction with the audience and weird covers and drama and, basically, something different. My daily life already has too much of the mundane and ordinary, give me something I can only experience once. Don't recite your music, perform it.
And that's how you'll keep getting my money.
The answer is: I don't. At least, not on purpose. I do go to concerts, but not to listen to the music I have on CD. I go for the performance. I go to hear a bluegrass cover of "Father Figure"(ala "Girlyman.") Or to experience the energy as a charismatic guitarist rockets into the audience to be surrounded by screaming fans as he blasts through a song(recent example: Butch Walker). Or even, to stand in stunned awe as a plucky Australian manages to silence a packed New York City concert hall for a completely acoustic second encore(Ben Lee, I am still in awe, I've never seen anybody get that many people -especially New Yorkers - to be that quiet).
In short, I go for a performance, I want riffs, and interaction with the audience and weird covers and drama and, basically, something different. My daily life already has too much of the mundane and ordinary, give me something I can only experience once. Don't recite your music, perform it.
And that's how you'll keep getting my money.
posted by Chris at 6:10 PM
1 Comments:
I have to say that you have really captured the draw of live music as well as the challenge for the performer.
And I think that is the particular challege I face performing in a tribute band. We try to imitate No Doubt's live performance to give us clues as to how the interpret their songs live. But we also make our own decisions on where to take a song. For instance, we combine two different versions of "In Your Head" together, which is something that No Doubt doesn't do live.
Though, I will say I really need to get out there performing my own music. Good thing I've written so solid songs lately.
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