At 04:40 PM 7/2/96 +1000, you wrote:
quoted 17 lines Hi,>Hi,
>
>>my question: do you agree? it's my feeling that, the above described
>>scenario being the case, the chemical brothers represent an unfortunate
>>(and unfortunately early) example of not trying very hard, and that had
>>people known that the "performance" they were paying $15 to by entertained
>>by was actually just theater (and, i would argue, not very interesting
>>theater at that), that they would (the few individuals he spoke with
>>notwithstanding) feel deceived and somewhat cheated. his opinion is that
>>music "performance," from the image that supports it to the spectacle that
>>feeds the continuous circulation and mythologization of that image, is
>>constituted from top to bottom by deceptions, and that actual _live_
>>performance is a comparatively small and (where entertainment value is
>>concerned) largely incidental part of that... i'm not asking for anyone to
>>solve this argument, but i would be interested in the impressions of those
>>who actually attended.
>
<*snip*>
quoted 5 lines Personally I like to see live performances, but when it comes down to the>Personally I like to see live performances, but when it comes down to the
>crunch i'm quite prepared to listen to a dat, as long as it makes me dance.
>In fact one of the best nights i've been to was the Rephlex night which only
>had one live act... probably from dat and DJ's with turntables & dats. The
>music was insane!
What I think is the larger question in Sean's post is whether DATs
constitute a live performance as the crowd expects it, and if so, what this
means in the context of a performance that supposedly offers something over
and above listening to the records at home. An image just popped into my
head of watching groups on American Bandstand (reruns on VH1) play their
songs on electric guitars that didn't even have cords plugged into them.
Would the crowd been as large if the gig was advertised as "Standing on
stage while a tape plays, twisting knobs?" There isn't any reason to have
anyone on stage in that case _except_ to reinforce the deceptive performance
being perpetrated in front of everyone's (willing?) eyes. In Sean's friend's
eyes, this deception runs to the roots of music performance anyway, and the
images and concepts that keep people coming back for more are separate from
and placed in front of the tiny musical expression occurring at whatever
show it happens to be, which most of the crowd seemingly could care less
about as long as those guys (or gals) are on stage.
eric