<Your message of "Tue, 02 Jul 1996 01:11:35 PDT.">
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On the wake of the recent Orbital, Vapour Space concert, I too have
been thinking about the live vs memorex debate.
I see at least four levels of liveness. There's playing from tape,
playing from sequencer, sequencing on stage, and playing for real.
No method of performing live is specifically worse than any other,
but when I go to a concert I am going to hear at least some action
from the last two.
I don't want the performers to be on stage simply lip synching or
hand synching to the music. If it appears they are performing then
I think they should be performing.
With regards to orbital. It is impossible to tell what those guy
are up to. I think it is clear that the perfect bass lines and
rhythm tracks are either sequenced or from DAT. An error at the
Seattle show makes me think that they sequence the lot. I am
reasonably sure (and I may be a fool!) that Orbital was at least
contributing to the mix.
As to the question about what people go to the concert to see and
hear and do. There are several reasons to go to a concert. One is
the soundsystem, much better than I have at home (or at least louder :).
There's the vibe of lots of people dancing. The light show and visual
effects. The proximity of celebrity. The chance to hear your favorite
musicians improvise on their songs.
I like to get a bit of all of this when I go out live. I can go to any
club and hear music played live and enjoy dancing to it. If I pay the
extra money then I want more of a light show and more improvisation or
reaction to the crowd.
But, everybody goes to a concert for a different reason. I heard people
talking about how they didn't like Vapourspace very much and that the light
show saved his set. I like him a lot. I danced like crazy for just about
his whole set.
[fletcher]