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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Craig Leve <CraigL@ori.org> |
| Subject | Re: American Hi-Fi VS Fountains of Wayne |
| Date | Wed, 10 Sep 2003 16:07:36 -0700 |
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Likewise I think this is pretty intriguing conversation. Hope I don't bring
the suck.
First off, I was at the Portland show and here was my take on it: I drove 2
hours each direction from Eugene to see the show. It was a late night and I
can't really afford many of them. However, FOW _easily_ ranks in my top 3
currently recording bands, and might well be my fave (as an aside: I don't
know how the rest of you can rank these things so confidently. I'm always
impressed.) In any case, I had high hopes, and I'd say seeing them live I
was a bit disappointed. I don't really hold FoW accountable. I think they
did the live show they feel comfortable doing. It's not showy, and it
definitely wasn't interactive. And for me this interactive thing is
important but a little more subtle than do they talk to the audience. My
favorite shows almost certainly include some kind of verbal engagement but
it's not critical to a good show. What is, is a sense of some connection,
some flow between audience and performer. It's like any relationship - it's
a date. You're on a date with the band. The band can 'perform' great as
FoW did live, but there's just no chemistry. There's no sense that there's a
give and take going on. And that sort of characterizes how I felt about the
FoW show - I just felt like it didn't matter that the audience was in the
room. The guys did great, and there could be no complaints about the
performance which was fine. But if I want to simply hear the songs played
well, and on a one-way street, their CDs suit me just fine.
On the other hand there's also this: as I said....did I feel gyped or that
FoW owed me more? No, again, it's a date. Just as I wouldn't expect a quid
pro quo on a date, I don't when I lay down my ducats on show. But I think
importantly, I won't drive 2 hours for a second date, either.
One last thing - it seems interesting that Dylan hasn't cropped up this
discussion. Whatever the perceived merits of his music and live performance
on this list, I'd say the common wisdom is that the quality of his shows is
WILDLY unpredictable. Now here's a contingency relationship that's really
intriguing. Folks buy tickets to see Dylan knowing, almost expecting that on
any given night he could easily suck, and suck in a manner that's just banal
and disengaged. Yet, every so often he'll toss off some truly inspired
night. Now again, that's just the common wisdom, but obviously it says
something about the uncertainty and spontaneity of the live setting and what
folks really expect at any given show.
-craig
n.p. Elvis Costello-Punch the Clock reissue
-----Original Message-----
From: AdamGhost@aol.com [mailto:AdamGhost@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 3:46 PM
To: audities@smoe.org
Subject: American Hi-Fi VS Fountains of Wayne
Bill sez: << Actually, whether you drove three days and paid through the
nose or walked
next door and got in for free, you owe them enough respect to let them try
to do their job along with an honest response (cheer, yawn, boo, leave).
Otherwise stay home. >>
This is a great discussion, actually, because it really gets down into what
are the obligations (if any) that flow from audience to musician and vice
versa? I tried to get into this once before and I remember it didn't seem
to
resonate.
Bill, I say word on that, and when an audience is putting out that kinda
vibe, a musician should be shot for copping an attitude. But in the real
world,
there ARE audiences and musicians both who leave something to be desired.
Could be a bad day, could be a bad performance, could be a bad vibe. Could
be
someone is a jerk or just plain tired. Who's to say?
I'm just trying to throw up a perspective that might not occur to people
sitting in an audience. Me, I'm in favor of engaging an audience and
putting out
100%...I do, however, believe that if a performer's doing his or her job and
is still getting disrespect, then all bets are off. So to me, there's a
clear
yin-yang as to how much the musician is obligated to the audience and vice
versa.
Which, I suppose, is getting a little off topic!
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