Just Announced Commentary - 2011 Edition

atomicfront wrote:
Well I got good tickets in the Beach House pre-sale.  isn't it nice when all the tickets aren't pre-sold to scalpers.

atomicfront wrote:
Can you see from section A at constitution hall?

kosmo wrote:
totally agree with Hutch on this… But you can't keep the Bros and Soccer Moms from hearing that hit live.  It's gonna be a great show where 2k "die-fans" will have to put with a whole bunch more "fans" yacking away waiting for the hit, and leaving once it's over.  And the Gotye must be a masterpiece as well..

personally i'm waiting for Dry The River  to return with their no-hits selfs and listen to a real masterpiece live for the first time. They have played twice at the Black Cat Backstage, once at Iota.  Waiting for DC date for Milo Greene as well…


Personally I think this new paradigm where bands explode on the internet and go from playing coffeehouses to arenas in a few weeks is very problematic.. there is no way these bands are going to be able to put on anything remotely resembling a decent performance without having actually put  in the sweat and developed their performance and a stage act… People like James Brown or Mick Jagger worked for years to become quality performers. A guy like Elvis developed his stage show over a substantial period at the hayrides etc.. The most disturbing thing is the crowd probably won't even care as live performance sort of went out the window in the 1990s with the "you got to look like you're not trying to entertain people" approach

its a shame that bands no longer really have to earn it the hard way… I remember when bands would play the black cat a few times, graduate to the 930, play that a few times and maybe the lucky ones go up from there… nowadays these fly by night one hit on spotify (whatever that means) acts skip all the paying their dues/learning the ropes… but hey good luck to them and their fans.."

K8teebug wrote:
Does anyone else think Beach House is incredibly dull and boring?  I want to like them because they're from Baltimore and I'm from Baltimore but I just don't get it.

kosmo wrote:
totally agree with Hutch on this… But you can't keep the Bros and Soccer Moms from hearing that hit live.  It's gonna be a great show where 2k "die-fans" will have to put with a whole bunch more "fans" yacking away waiting for the hit, and leaving once it's over.  And the Gotye must be a masterpiece as well..

personally i'm waiting for Dry The River  to return with their no-hits selfs and listen to a real masterpiece live for the first time. They have played twice at the Black Cat Backstage, once at Iota.  Waiting for DC date for Milo Greene as well…


Personally I think this new paradigm where bands explode on the internet and go from playing coffeehouses to arenas in a few weeks is very problematic.. there is no way these bands are going to be able to put on anything remotely resembling a decent performance without having actually put  in the sweat and developed their performance and a stage act… People like James Brown or Mick Jagger worked for years to become quality performers. A guy like Elvis developed his stage show over a substantial period at the hayrides etc.. The most disturbing thing is the crowd probably won't even care as live performance sort of went out the window in the 1990s with the "you got to look like you're not trying to entertain people" approach

its a shame that bands no longer really have to earn it the hard way… I remember when bands would play the black cat a few times, graduate to the 930, play that a few times and maybe the lucky ones go up from there… nowadays these fly by night one hit on spotify (whatever that means) acts skip all the paying their dues/learning the ropes… but hey good luck to them and their fans.."

MonkeyPants wrote:

kosmo wrote:
totally agree with Hutch on this… But you can't keep the Bros and Soccer Moms from hearing that hit live.  It's gonna be a great show where 2k "die-fans" will have to put with a whole bunch more "fans" yacking away waiting for the hit, and leaving once it's over.  And the Gotye must be a masterpiece as well..

personally i'm waiting for Dry The River  to return with their no-hits selfs and listen to a real masterpiece live for the first time. They have played twice at the Black Cat Backstage, once at Iota.  Waiting for DC date for Milo Greene as well…


Personally I think this new paradigm where bands explode on the internet and go from playing coffeehouses to arenas in a few weeks is very problematic.. there is no way these bands are going to be able to put on anything remotely resembling a decent performance without having actually put  in the sweat and developed their performance and a stage act… People like James Brown or Mick Jagger worked for years to become quality performers. A guy like Elvis developed his stage show over a substantial period at the hayrides etc.. The most disturbing thing is the crowd probably won't even care as live performance sort of went out the window in the 1990s with the "you got to look like you're not trying to entertain people" approach

its a shame that bands no longer really have to earn it the hard way… I remember when bands would play the black cat a few times, graduate to the 930, play that a few times and maybe the lucky ones go up from there… nowadays these fly by night one hit on spotify (whatever that means) acts skip all the paying their dues/learning the ropes… but hey good luck to them and their fans.."

I agree with Kosmo and Hutch…I just don't understand how a band with a single album gets booked at a place with more than 2K seats as anything other than an opening act. Now I'm not talking about pop sensations that are just commodities with huge, lip-synched stage shows. Let the kids go to that circus. It's not a real live show, anyway. But with supposedly legitimate artists, I don't think it serves the artist or the audience to have a band with about an hour's worth of material headline a huge venue like MPP. I like The Lumineers, but I thought their appearance on SNL demonstrated how they get swallowed up on a stage bigger than Iota's. We no longer give artists time to cut their teeth and learn how to fill a room with their sound, command an audience for more than the hit song, and get them interested in something more. Artists would be well-served by the experience. Yes, the Lumineers have been playing for more than a few months, but they still don't have more than about an hour's worth of material. I wish we'd let artists grow into a venue like MPP instead of getting as much cash out of their fans as possible based on one hit song.

vansmack wrote:
The problem is you guys think this is about music.  And it's not.

It's a business and it's about ticket sales and the promoter thinks he can sell enough tickets for a particular demographic to see a band play a larger venue, and he's going to take the risk based on his available evidence.

Given his track record, I'm guessing the promoter will be right. Again. 

Jaguar wrote:

vansmack wrote:
The problem is you guys think this is about music.  And it's not.

It's a business and it's about ticket sales and the promoter thinks he can sell enough tickets for a particular demographic to see a band play a larger venue, and he's going to take the risk based on his available evidence.

Given his track record, I'm guessing the promoter will be right. Again.   

Exactly! They are into it for the money. We are into it for the love of music. Sometimes we forget that.

On one hand, I think the labels, promoters, etc., see that the audience has a desire for indies and other lesser known performers and are trying to make a buck on that thirst. Good. We can all question whom they back, especially when they don't appeal to us, but they have their reasons.

On the other hand, I'm not going to try to take any of these bands down because they got lucky by being noticed and taken under the wings of the guys with the backing. I don't like the way the record industry works but that's how it is for now. The promoters, by nature of the business, usually have to work with them in a way that's beneficial to both and hopefully, the artists. It's up to us whether or not we choose to attend these shows.

Personally, I don't like large venues so I'm usually pretty lucky myself with not having to decide whether or not I want to attend such places. Double luck that I tend to prefer bands who usually can only sell to an audience in a smaller venue.

As much as I want to agree with many of the points that Monkey Pants made, this isn't an ideal world and these bands need to pay their bills too in a dog eat dog industry. It would be nice if everyone advanced 'fairly' (whatever that would be) and not get the benefit of moving ahead 5 spaces while other well seasoned and talented acts keep barely filling rooms for 200 or so. That's just not the real world. Kind of makes me happier that I tend to prefer the lesser known bands and want to support them even more. Then again, I can't stand the rush to try to buy tickets to a highly coveted show that I really would not want to see in a much larger venue. That's just the breaks.

atomicfront wrote:
bands play bigger venues because more people like them.  how hard is that to understand?   A promoter is going to put a band in a venue that they think they will fill.  There is no point in putting U2 in the black cat.  there is no point putting Holly Go Lightly into MPP. 

It is nothing about record companies involved. If a band is popular a band will put them in big venues. If no one cares for a band they won't play anywhere. 

This is nothing to do about fairness.   IMHO Beach House should be headlining the Verizon Center.  But I am glad they are not.  I would rather see an artist at a smaller venue and I won't see bands at Verizon center and a band has to be awfully good for me to see them at the Patriot center.  For example, Sigur Ros.   

azaghal1981 wrote:
I still say there is a little indie-rock devil with a Pitchfork shirt on (see what I did there?) running around NYC venues with contracts for bands to sign their souls away to.

walkonby wrote:
people still use ipods?

atomicfront wrote:

walkonby wrote:
people still use ipods?

I had one of those nanos but it keep getting put in the wash and it eventually stopped working.  a perfect instance of making something too small to be useful.

James wrote:
I bet your wife tells you that all the time.

atomicfront wrote:

walkonby wrote:
people still use ipods?

I had one of those nanos but it keep getting put in the wash and it eventually stopped working.  a perfect instance of making something too small to be useful.