Too many concerts are not about the music anymore, too many events are becoming overinflated. And thus overpriced.
I watched parts of a Katy Perry show on TV lately: with every song came different costumes, lights, fire and explosion effects, acrobats, lasers, smoke, vehicles, waterfalls, bubbles, confetti, inflatables, whatnot onto the stage… It was a total mess and utterly exaggerated.
Are people really all so numb that they need these extreme overstimulations to feel something?
Depends on the band. Popular trendy groups are going to have a lot of gee-whiz effects. I’ve probably been to a dozen shows over the last few years and seen zero fireworks, and the only costume change was a singer taking off a jacket after getting too hot on stage.
With pop music, maybe. They arent written to be appealing in and of themselves. Pop music is a pretty strict style and structure with the same bass line and same few chords. Then they are played on the radio ad nauseum, so that when it’s first released you become familiar with the song enough to like it. As a batch of pop songs start to become old, another batch is released with similar style and structure. There’s hardly anything new.
In order to keep people excited about a pop song that went through that life cycle 10+ years ago, there needs to be more. Don’t forget that there are quite a few pop performers who rely on auto tune because they can’t sing in tune, so they are just lip-syncing on stage. I’m sure some of the spectacle is also to keep the performers going and energetic during performances of the same pop crap they’ve toured with for more than a decade.
Every music genre today has representatives who are subject to the maximization of capitalist exploitation. Not just pop music, even if this may be the pinnacle. Even so-called subversive music styles like punk or black metal are not left out in this development.
Of course you can still always find concerts in small venues and subcultures. My point is: when executives in the music industry claim that many events are far too cheap, it just means that their offers are already far too inflated and they still can’t get enough.
Too many concerts are not about the music anymore, too many events are becoming overinflated. And thus overpriced.
I watched parts of a Katy Perry show on TV lately: with every song came different costumes, lights, fire and explosion effects, acrobats, lasers, smoke, vehicles, waterfalls, bubbles, confetti, inflatables, whatnot onto the stage… It was a total mess and utterly exaggerated.
Are people really all so numb that they need these extreme overstimulations to feel something?
Depends on the band. Popular trendy groups are going to have a lot of gee-whiz effects. I’ve probably been to a dozen shows over the last few years and seen zero fireworks, and the only costume change was a singer taking off a jacket after getting too hot on stage.
Meanwhile the local band is performing for 50 bucks and a couple of free drinks
With pop music, maybe. They arent written to be appealing in and of themselves. Pop music is a pretty strict style and structure with the same bass line and same few chords. Then they are played on the radio ad nauseum, so that when it’s first released you become familiar with the song enough to like it. As a batch of pop songs start to become old, another batch is released with similar style and structure. There’s hardly anything new.
In order to keep people excited about a pop song that went through that life cycle 10+ years ago, there needs to be more. Don’t forget that there are quite a few pop performers who rely on auto tune because they can’t sing in tune, so they are just lip-syncing on stage. I’m sure some of the spectacle is also to keep the performers going and energetic during performances of the same pop crap they’ve toured with for more than a decade.
This uh, is untrue.
There are pop acts that have very complicated music, and there are ones that don’t.
Just like with rock music or even rap music.
Auto tune is not a magical bullet that fixes being unable to sing. It can only correct tune.
Every music genre today has representatives who are subject to the maximization of capitalist exploitation. Not just pop music, even if this may be the pinnacle. Even so-called subversive music styles like punk or black metal are not left out in this development.
Of course you can still always find concerts in small venues and subcultures. My point is: when executives in the music industry claim that many events are far too cheap, it just means that their offers are already far too inflated and they still can’t get enough.