27 replies to this topic

[avec]

provocative article

I agree with him. Don't really want to hear a whole album live.

[Efrim]

The article is based on the flawed assumption that a band playing through an album can't change the songs or make them sound fresh. Sonic Youth was talented enough last year to serve both masters. While they did play through the entire album, many parts were reinterpreted or re-improvised. That was thrilling.

[M_Rots]

The article is based on the flawed assumption that a band playing through an album can't change the songs or make them sound fresh. Sonic Youth was talented enough last year to serve both masters. While they did play through the entire album, many parts were reinterpreted or re-improvised. That was thrilling.

That gives the writer about a thousand times more credit than he deserves.

Unless you're M. David Nichols, that is.

[avec]

The article's anti-facial-hair bias is unsettling.

agreed.


It would have been a great experience to hear daydream nation but then again you miss the suspense of not knowing whether they'll play diamond sea or schizophrenia next, as in a normal concert setting. I can imagine as Efrim said that they rose to the challenge and changed up their songs, but a band like Sonic Youth thrives on those things. Don't think Sebadoh or Public Enemy does.

Or is the element of surprise overrated in a concert?

[M_Rots]

The article's anti-facial-hair bias is unsettling.

agreed.


It would have been a great experience to hear daydream nation but then again you miss the suspense of not knowing whether they'll play diamond sea or schizophrenia next, as in a normal concert setting. I can imagine as Efrim said that they rose to the challenge and changed up their songs, but a band like Sonic Youth thrives on those things. Don't think Sebadoh or Public Enemy does.

Or is the element of surprise overrated in a concert?

I don't think surprise is overrated. I think he overrates his objection. Prince and god-knows-how-many other artists over the years have done the same thing. Now these bands at festivals are doing it - it's a gimmick, as the festivals, themselves, are a kind of gimmick.

The writer, to my way of thinking, is awfully exercised over a gimmick.

[Montana]

provocative article

I agree with him. Don't really want to hear a whole album live.

Most people don't want to hear an enitre indie album live. That's the problem. Touring only The Wall, which was a brand new release is something completely different.

Most indie bands are complete pussies live. That's why the females with beards show up at Pitchforkfest.

[Bobzilla]

Here's a whole album performance that I can and will get behind:

Robyn Hitchcock will be doing a short US tour in November, performing I Often Dream Of Trains with Terry Edwards on keyboards, horns, & bass and Captain Tim Keegan on guitar. They will be appearing in NYC at Symphony Space on November 22, which is being filmed by John Edginton for the Sundance Channel and DVD release on YepRoc. More dates will be announced in a couple months.

One of those "more" dates is in Chicago at the Old Town School of Folk Music on November 15. My favorite Robyn Hitchcock album in a perfect setting.

[Mitchell]

I definitely didn't kick myself for missing Teenage Fanclub doing Bandwagonesque and the live debut of "This Is Music" or Bowie doing Low and I didn't want tickets for Ocean Rain this September.

Problem is the albums and the fact that the amount of music on that day was far less. Take any three acts from the other days and let them do it and I'd imagine you'd get the same reaction.