Post by The Curmudgeon on Dec 23, 2016 16:03:23 GMT 2
So I’m friends with a guy who runs a metal festival, and he made a few comments on Facebook that got some attention and some different opinions and I thought I’d bring it up here. I’ll just cut and paste his original post. Here it is.
Have been good at holding my tongue for awhile now....but when I see all these people I know, firstly complaining of ticket prices but at the same time then confirming they have purchased them then I despair. The ZZ, Rainbow, Alice's etc. etc. are all out for one last hurrah and to top up their pensions at your expense. Yeah the production, lights, smoke and mirrors may distract you, but the fact remains it is just a few blokes in a band nothing more. For a ridiculously cheap £7 I saw 3 top quality bands that would almost certainly blow the established acts out the water. They are the real deal and of course just my opinion, but they represent the kind of music you should be supporting. If you don't your arenas will be empty within a decade. Real rock music is alive and well and driven by passion and love not one last pay day to fleece the fans. Massive Wagons, Colour of Noise and The King Lot smashed Bannermans last night and I would rather do that 100 times than stand in a soulless barn paying a fiver for a pint and £25 for a tee shirt to watch some pensioners go through the motions.
Now, even though me and my friend have vastly different music tastes, I do agree in part with his statement, or at least the sentiment behind it. I absolutely prefer seeing smaller bands in more intimate surroundings and venues than some huge stadium gig.
But what’s the cut off point between old guys topping up their pensions at our expense and a band like, say, the Manic Street Preachers, now going for 30 years and on their 12th album, doing what they love to do and still with as much passion and urgency as on their first album?
And, as noble a sentiment as it is to go see new and upcoming bands, the reason we all go to live shows is to see the bands we know and hear the songs that got us into them in the first place. Standing watching three bands you don’t know simply because it’s live music just.. well, who does that? When I saw Prince, another “pensioner”, and was a stones throw away from him while he played Purple Rain and purple confetti rained down me, that was as close to a religious experience as anything I’ve ever had, and it’s the same with someone like Alice Cooper; you’re there to hear the songs you grew up with, the ones that MEAN something to you, so even if they ARE out for a last hurrah and pay day, what the fuck does that matter if you’re enjoying it?
Where do you stand on this?
Have been good at holding my tongue for awhile now....but when I see all these people I know, firstly complaining of ticket prices but at the same time then confirming they have purchased them then I despair. The ZZ, Rainbow, Alice's etc. etc. are all out for one last hurrah and to top up their pensions at your expense. Yeah the production, lights, smoke and mirrors may distract you, but the fact remains it is just a few blokes in a band nothing more. For a ridiculously cheap £7 I saw 3 top quality bands that would almost certainly blow the established acts out the water. They are the real deal and of course just my opinion, but they represent the kind of music you should be supporting. If you don't your arenas will be empty within a decade. Real rock music is alive and well and driven by passion and love not one last pay day to fleece the fans. Massive Wagons, Colour of Noise and The King Lot smashed Bannermans last night and I would rather do that 100 times than stand in a soulless barn paying a fiver for a pint and £25 for a tee shirt to watch some pensioners go through the motions.
Now, even though me and my friend have vastly different music tastes, I do agree in part with his statement, or at least the sentiment behind it. I absolutely prefer seeing smaller bands in more intimate surroundings and venues than some huge stadium gig.
But what’s the cut off point between old guys topping up their pensions at our expense and a band like, say, the Manic Street Preachers, now going for 30 years and on their 12th album, doing what they love to do and still with as much passion and urgency as on their first album?
And, as noble a sentiment as it is to go see new and upcoming bands, the reason we all go to live shows is to see the bands we know and hear the songs that got us into them in the first place. Standing watching three bands you don’t know simply because it’s live music just.. well, who does that? When I saw Prince, another “pensioner”, and was a stones throw away from him while he played Purple Rain and purple confetti rained down me, that was as close to a religious experience as anything I’ve ever had, and it’s the same with someone like Alice Cooper; you’re there to hear the songs you grew up with, the ones that MEAN something to you, so even if they ARE out for a last hurrah and pay day, what the fuck does that matter if you’re enjoying it?
Where do you stand on this?
