quoted 8 lines does anyone else get pissed off when they hear people talking> does anyone else get pissed off when they hear people talking
> through live recordings?? i'm listening to these boc live
> tracks and it pisses me off to hear people talking throught
> their set. if i were lucky enought to be there i'd be up
> front, with my mouth wide open, wondering how i was lucky
> enough to be witness to such beauty. have some respect, and
> go to shows for the music, not to chill with your homies and
> talk about dumb shit.
I can't speak for the virtuosity of a BoC performance, since I've never seen
them, but I do have plenty of experience attending electronic and IDM shows.
When I go to a show and the band/artist actually *does something worth
paying attention to* I'll stop talking. In the case of IDM 'live' shows, 99%
of the time there's nothing to look at and practically nothing interesting
to hear that you can't hear on a CD. It's usually substantively the same as
seeing a DJ, and there's almost nothing more pathetic than people up front
with their mouths wide open watching some schmuck spin records. So I talk to
my friends, who 99% of the time are more interesting than the performers.
And it's not "luck" that allows us to view and listen to our beloved,
godlike artists in live venues, it's the *money* we pay them to perform. It
seems that most IDM fans pay first and foremost for the privilege of being
in the presence of their idols. The virtuosity of the performance is usually
an afterthought to both the performers (who do it mostly to promote record
sales) and to the audience (who attend the shows because traditional
celebrity stalking is too creepy).
I think we should put aside our starfucking urges and hold these artists to
a higher standard, demanding that they have some live chops before having
the gall to ask us to pay lots of money to see them. I wonder how many
artists have guilty consciences about doing so little of interest at their
live shows. I wonder how many artists actually sympathize with the people
talking during their live set. I wonder how many artists would rather not
perform at all, but feel like they *have* to in order to promote themselves.
All cynicism aside, though, a live show is the ultimate challenge for any
musician and is a great opportunity for an artist to grow in many ways.
Unfortunately, most electronic/IDM artists don't see it this way. Many shows
I've seen, and especially those involving established artists, tend to avoid
experimentation, innovation, or even any attempt at virtuosity entirely.
-cf
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org