Entertainment For Lively Minds
Got Live If You Want It- But I'm Afraid I Don't. Not really.
Last night I should have gone to see Stackridge. I really like Stackridge. I’ve got all the records and they were playing in a small venue less than half a mile away on the other side of Cardiff. I had been planning to go. But I didn’t. Ok, I was tired. But there was another reason too. Thinking about it, I just couldn’t see the point. What was actually ‘being there’ going to add to my enjoyment of this band? It wouldn’t have sounded as good as the records ( there would have been off-key moments and bad sound and the occasional howl of feedback ), I would have had to stand next to other Stackridge fans who would have sung along and cheered ( and held up phones ). And, quite frankly- however much I love a band- I don’t really fancy having to listen to an hour and a half of them without a break. A couple of songs would do nicely. On record. At home. With no one else there.
Not even the band.
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i've got tickets for Gregg Allman.....
...... same quandry... I just don't know if I'll bother going !
I'm the same
I prefer recorded music to live performance.
I prefer live
I prefer live, it's my favourite thing to do, but each to their own.
I went to see Misty's Big Adventure and Laura J. Martin last night, superb!
As previously advertised...
...I generally have to REALLY love a band to get excited about seeing them live. I can't be arsed going on spec - I haven't got that kind of time, energy or disposable income that isn't already being cheerfully frittered on records, musical equipment and anything with an Apple logo on it. As you'll appreciate, those hobbies rather stymie doing much else.
So if it's The Hold Steady, I'll go, because they're so sensational live that they can make a rotund 33-year-old get down the front and pogo like a whiplash-skinny teenager, but with several litres more sweat. Similarly, if R.E.M. were to tour, I'd be there. Pixies - even though they're my second favourite band of all time - probably not. I've seen them four times since 2004, and that's probably enough for a while.
I can pretty much take it or leave it nowadays, especially now I don't care what anyone thinks. It used to be that I went to gigs out of a sense of duty, because that's what "real music fans" do. Meh. Bollocks.
Love that last paragraph
I'm exactly the same. Wish I could apply that 'don't care what anyone thinks' thing to more areas of life!
Like you, I'll go to see certain favourites. I LOVE seeing the Fall, and Morrissey, but for most bands I'm happy with the records.
Oh Eddie
But...but...it WAS Stackridge! Actually they are my next gig in Kendal. I tend to go to show support and meet a few chums. They play with no supporting act and do have a break at half-time. Then they change ends with the audience. Sorry.
It will be different than the last time I saw them because Mutter has left the band again. They do play Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime as a bonus and I am hoping for some new and unrecorded songs.
I know how you feel though. Having worked on gigs for umpteen years I usually get the urge to want to wander off after 2 songs into the set to chat with the box office staff, check on merchandise sales or lig backstage and raid the rider. People get rightly miffed with me when I'm nothing to do with the venue.
As it happens...
Last night the Drive-By Truckers were playing Leamington, and I'd been in two minds about going because it's bit of a trip and I'd be on my own. But I went anyway, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I do think the venue and type of music are huge factors, for example I'll happily watch a blues band in a pub but I don't listen to anything similar at home. Re the live vs recorded debate, I'm more interested in how the songs are arranged for live band than seeing someone try to replicate their recordings exactly.