Concert Tab

Yeppers. There's even this thread too.

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Yeah, I knew about the concert review thread, but I didn't really feel like I could write any sort of decent review yet I just had to mention the fact that I saw a pair of legends live. This thread suits me fine.

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So The Who played in my town last night (along with supporting acts Dallas Crane and Counting Crows).

Was alright, although I honestly don't think I'm cut out for rock concerts. They really aren't worth the time, money and effort I put into them.

So what was The Who like?

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Objectively, they still sound as good as ever.

Subjectively, I don't care.

Blasphemy!

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Right on, welcome to civilization.

Adidasss

To be fair, I'll make an exception if Pink Floyd reunite.

Yeah, I'm sure I could think of exceptions too but, why bother? live music is depressing.

How so?

Being forced to stand and do awkward dance moves in a crowd of sweaty strangers in the dark listening to much louder, much crappier-sounding versions of all the songs you can listen to in the comfort of your own home, and then the added humiliation (usually) of watching everyone grub for an encore, which might have been a nice surprise the first time it ever happened but now is just another unimaginative part of the act (clap like a trained monkey and you'll get a few more crappy-sounding versions of our songs and another 15 minutes bathed in our heavenly presence!)

The whole rock-star-act thing seems kind of obnoxious to me.

You know those cliched photos of performers making ridiculously stylized emotional expressions/poses as they drip glowing sweat onto their mics? That's what I think of when I think of live music and the whole thing looks stupid, ugly, artless, humorless, masturbatory, pointless and gross. I really can't stand it most of the time.

Of course, it's all much more bearable and even kind of fun if you're drunk.

I think there's still something to be said for a good rock performance but I've only seen maybe one of them (in an actual live setting) in my lifetime. Jonathan Richman the first time I saw him (it helped a lot that that he didn't do an encore and his music sounded just as good, different, and even had different lyrics than a lot of the album-versions, and that I knew all the songs).

Stop Making Sense was a good performance or at least looked awesome on film.

Well, I've been to lots of great shows, but they're almost all in smaller clubs and I usually go with someone. Plus I've been lucky enough to make lots of eye contact with the performers, and I tend to yell out things which the singers tend to respond to. Talking to them after the show also helps me to realize that a lot of these guys and gals are just like me in that they're married with kids, etc.

I tend to agree with lines. I've been to a handful of concerts and don't generally like the experience. It certainly varies, though, but I'd say a band has to make a really remarkable effort to make the whole thing worthwhile. I've seen Spoon a few times, but largely just to support them, and to see what they were like live, as I feel I get far more out of their CDs than their live performances. I saw The Comas live for a similar reason, and because the venue was small enough that I got to talk to some of the band and get them to sign my album (that was cool).

I don't like dancing, so that probably has a lot to do with it. All you can do is stand and sway/nod/whatever.

One of the few exceptions was The Raconteurs at the American Music Union festival last year. Really high-energy stuff, and it had an edge that the stuff on the album (Broken Boy Soldiers) didn't.

Oh, that, and getting to hear Gnarls Barkley cover Radiohead's "Reckoner." Odd covers and performers with tremendous stage presence and/or production seem to be the main reason to go to a concert (for me), other than simply supporting a band you out-and-out love.

While in Oklahoma City, my wife, a friend of ours and I went to the annual Jazz Festival. One of the bands playing was Aranda. I don't know how big they are yet, because when we heard them all they had was a 5-track CD out. Now, they've got a full disc out, but I'm not sure how mainstream they are.

All in all, not a bad group though.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

Y'all are crazy. Rock music is supposed to be loud. Well actually, most music is better when the volume is cranked up. I haven't been to many concerts (I live in the sticks) but 9 out of 10 times the experience was better than listening to the album at home. Sometimes it completely changes my view of an artist. I only fell in love with The White Stripes and Calexico after I'd seen them live...

Anyhoo, this is gonna be the best year of my life as far as concerts go. I've already seen the Young Knives, which were super funny and fun, I'm gonna go see Antony and the Johnsons in München (Germany) in about a month, then in June the Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and Röyksopp are coming to my freaking town, in July I'm seeing Franz Ferdinand and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and in August Coldplay in Udine (Italy). Sweet...

Music's supposed to be loud, but you're supposed to be able to hear it, too. I've been to some mid-sized shows that are basically just noise. It can be hard to identify even the songs you know...and there's no hope of following along with the ones you don't. Ironically, this means I enjoy the music more if I'm not too close.

I think the things that are good or bad about concerts are very different from the things that are good or bad about a given album. Kinda funny that there'd be so little overlap in the nature of the two things, given that they seem like they ought to be very similar. Though they're both music, the experience and purpose of each is quite different.

Anyway, to each their own. Personally, in terms of quality I think concerts arel ike poems: the good ones are great, and the bad ones are horrible, and there's a lot more bad than good.

I saw Elton John and Billy Joel in concert a few weeks ago. It was such a great show. We sat in the nosebleed section, so that was kind of a bummer, but I had a fun time all the same.

I never post on here, so have a few to tab up...

The Killers at Birmingham NEC - brilliant. I'd gone off them a bit because I didn't think much of the latest album, but they were just amazing live. Perfect set, pretty much, all the hits, not just the new stuff. Love them again now.

Doll and the Kicks at The Purple Turtle, Camden. This band is apparently supporting Morrissey on his new tour. Pretty good, quit energetic.

Bombay Bicycle Club at Proud Galleries, Camden. Played new songs! Have an album coming out! Finally getting somewhere...Right at the front again because we are their only fans over the age of sixteen, I think. But a bigger crowd than I've seen for them before, so that's good. A bit of moshing/ general jumping about to Cancel on Me, my favourite.

Heartbreak at Proud Galleries, Camden. Wow. Loved them. A nice slice of slightly cheesy euro-electro. Front man is mad and thinks he's Freddie Mercury. They're playing Camden Crawl so I'll get to see them again in April, looking forward to it.

I realize that I'm old and that I've been listening to loud music at home for over 40 years and at concerts for over 30 years, but I can only recall one concert I've ever been to where the sound was so horrible that it was difficult to make out what song was what. That was the Replacements concert at Crawford Hall, UCI, and that place is a horrible venue for LOUD music apparently because I had already seen three awesome Replacements concerts in smaller clubs. Even at the Soundtrack of Our Lives' concert at the Avalon in 2005, which I believe to be the loudest concert I've been at, it was easy to hear the music and differentiate all the words and instruments, and I stood in front of 20 foot tall speakers. I don't really know what to say. The only time it has been a chore for me to go to a concert, it was because my feet hurt because I was too stubborn to buy comfortable new tennis shoes.

I'll admit that I may be strange because I used to spend hours doing jumping jacks, sit ups, alternate toe touches, etc., to my record albums, so dancing or pogoing at a concert was easy and enjoyable for me in my younger days. People just don't get into their bopping as much nowadays, but there I go again ruminating how it was better back in the day. Shut up, mark!

Dancing is not my thing.