we’ve heard it all before
From the eye-rolling around me, it was clear we were witnessing an old-fashioned ’60s mind blowing, a system overload brought on by shredding tidal waves of guitar dissonance. Thurston Moore, the legendary feedback aficionado, had blown a mind, an extremely irritating mind, and there was no containing it. Granted, few acts receive that reaction anymore — you’re unlikely to journey to the center of your inner freak at a Maroon 5 show. But here’s what was unusual: Their set held no surprise.
By design.
In a recent article at the Toledo Blade, Christopher Borrelli talks about a new fad, the live concert album. This is when a band exactly replicates an album in a live show.
My first reaction to the concept was totally derisive: this side of Milli Vanilli, I could see no interesting reason to do something so canned. But some of the reasons were not wholely unreasonable:
- Artists with a long history can get in a trap of only trotting out old hits to appease fans who are not ready to move on. Insisting on playing the new album can be a species of artistic independence. But still, ignoring the whole issue of appeasement, you can do new without doing canned.
- It may be a way of getting the album heard at all. Borrelli talks about this “trendlette” as, in part, a backlash to the iPod culture of not listening to whole albumbs. But that’s not me: I’m glued to my iPod but my playlists are almost entirely either whole albums or whole live shows. And still, at live shows, I don’t want to hear what’s on my iPod.
- More interesting, to me, is the idea that the album was put together with an aesthetic concept that you might want to conserve in at least some live performances. Like, you wouldn’t perform “Swan Lake” with the songs all scrambled and a bit of “Rent” thrown in. For example, Pink Floyd perforemed “The Wall” in it’s entirety.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=M_bvT-DGcWw]
So I can see that as theoretically justifiable, but I can’t think of much I’d want to hear that way. Outside of overtly theatrical “concept” pieces (I want to hear Ben Bagby’s Beowulf live), and the rare thing I might want to hear for historic reasons, I can’t think of anything I’d really want to hear that way. The whole point of live is the surprise, isn’t it?
In any case, for the artist, there’s this:
The drawback, however, is not small: If you were once cool, playing a legendary album in concert puts you on the road to petrification — as with many symphony-hall programs, your music becomes something of a museum piece.
But maybe I’m missing something. Any albums you’d like to see performed live?
categories: music
posted by what at 03:07 am
I’m with you what. I’m in it for the surprise. The times I’ve been disappointed with shows have been accompanied by the thought, “I could have stayed home and heard this.” (And saved time, money, hassle, etc.)
I can sort of buy into a few of the ‘not wholey unreasonable’ points, but each one has a counter that wouldn’t require a live duplication of an album. If an artist doesn’t want to get stuck doing ‘old favorites’, then don’t do them. If an album needs to be ’sold’ via a live show, then do the tracks. But don’t feel you can’t shake them up a bit.
I missed the oportunity to see an artist I like this past weekend. He played two sets. The first had about a third familiar songs that I was sorry I missed. A few songs that I wasn’t entirely sorry I missed. And the rest were new ones I would have liked to have heard. The second set was at a different club. All covers. Billy Joel. Pink Floyd. Can’t remember who else. But that was the one I thought ‘Damn! I missed it!’ Why? Because it was probably a one -time thing and I missed it.
That’s what keeps me going to live shows…not knowing what to expect.
And the artists that I go see again and again are the one that have, in the past, given me the biggest surprises.
I suppose this fits in the category of a “rare thing I might want to hear for historic reasons” — but if Billy Joel toured The Stranger, I’d be there. I’ve seen him peform most or all of the cuts at various times, but that album is on my short list of those that are meant to be savored from beginning to end.
Other than that, I’m drawing a blank. So in general, yes, surprise me, throw me a curve, let me feel I’m seeing / hearing something that’s never been performed in exactly that way at any other performance.