The Electric Highway tour rolled into Slit Lick City last night, and I
forked the $15 to spend my Wednesday evening with teenagers.
It was rather strange to see a sponsored rave. There were a couple of
grease monkeys sitting in the B.F. Goodrich truck with piles of tires and
turned off monitors. They stared blankly at me and my friend, but made no
effort to pitch us tires, I'm sure all they really wanted was to go home.
Looked like some CEO either had offspring running the tour, or someone got
suckered. There were plenty of brand new tire-piles around the location
that had been mutated into different forms of sculpture. Recycle, save the
planet, and chuck our painted tires in the trash at the end of the tour.
The hall was half filled with people. I'd say maybe 1,000 showed up over
the course of the night. What was odd to me was the fact that this was a
fairly richly produced rave, but it lacked any form of energy. Big watt
laser, mucho Intellibeams, professional lighting, Mr. Video mixer and four
projectors, yet the lightning storm rolling over the Great Salt Lake made
for a better show. I guess it felt really canned.
I had no idea Fluke was going to play, so it made a nice surprise. They
cranked out Atom Bomb and ran around the stage trying to get a reaction
from the crowd. It reminded me of Underworld at Organic in more than just
stage antics. They sound a whole lot like Underworld as well. Yet for all
their work, it just lacked passion. Two wankers on keyboards with two
yankers running around with mikes. Hand me a pillow.
Doc Martin DJ'd after Fluke. My friend and I talked about how we found it
amazing that Doc keeps DJ'ing, and wondered if he finds any of it exciting
anymore. We came to the eventual conclusion that he is doing well at it,
and doesn't want to leave that. We also wondered what job skills
professional DJ's excel at.
Crystal Method was next up, and I was interested to see how they would pull
off a performance. Unfortunately, it ended up sounding like an hour long
remix of "Chemical Beats".
I may be getting more cynical about live electronic music, but it is
starting to rub me in the wrong way. Performers have got to understand
that learing over a keyboard, or tilting it on its stand is just not a
show. "Wow!! Did you see him twist that oscillator and then jump? That's
ENTERTAINMENT!" I think we have yet to see a performer who is as dynamic
as their music. Orbital, Orb, and Meat Beat Manifesto all come close, but
are far from the standard. It may never reach excellence.
It is said that audiences ripped apart concert halls after works of Strauss
debuted. This was the 19th century. In the 20th century, our performers
are content to rile audiences into fits of hopping. Where's the passion?
Where's the form? Where's the beef? I want to see someone perform
electronic music in a completely live manner, upside-down, while working
the audience into a riot over their submission to corporate America. I
want to see something with substance and passion. People have long stated
that electronic music is cold, now I'm beginning to understand what they
mean. Maybe I just need to see Consolidated again.
Watching Crystal Method live was like watching live programming...
"One night only! Richard Stallman upgrades emacs!"
"Man, did you see that? He unrolled the loop! Look how he yanks his
keyboard around. That is REALLY COOL."
The last concert I went to was Gwar. At least this provided some laughs
and creativity over what I witnessed last night. Now that I'm forking over
the dough to see Big Top, I can only hope that Eat Static will provide some
light at the end of the tunnel.