Sunday, 1 July 2007
Using (and abusing) music
Interesting chat at Rootsville with Pete Ashton, he of many blogs, and Gigbeth obergruppenfuehrerinn Clare Edwards. Sparked by Pete's spot-on comments on Chamberlain Square in Brum Blog, we got on to the public use of sound, and music in particular. We use and consume music everywhere - it gets thrown at us, whether we like it or not (Christmas shopping, anyone?). And so we devalue it. We disconnect from the the people who make the stuff. And it shows when you go to a gig. I hate it when people treat live musicians as aural wallpaper. At Rootsville, for example, The Love Child Electric turned in a great set, but that didn't seem to matter to the lads next to me. And they probably thought they were fans of the band, as well. I don't get it. Canned music may be a commodity, but music makers are not. There is a distinction...
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2 comments:
I'm generally with you here but I wonder if festivals give the music a different context to a standard gig. At the latter you're expected to be there to appreciate the music as there's nothing much else to do, but at a festival the music is just part of the experience, right?
I think it also depends on where you were standing - as you move back from the stage I think treating the music as a background thing is more acceptable. Having a chat by the stage edge is, of course, a crime worthy of serious punishment.
Good point. Festivals ARE different: there's always stuff you won't know, to evaluate and pass comment on. But my boys were two rows from the front and seemed to know all the material. Once you're in plain view of the guys on stage, a bit of respect seems only fair, methinks.
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