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"live instrument" bands v electronic/dance music bands


Guest ukslim
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I'll use the example of films.

Sometimes I might go to the cinema and watch a really powerful, intelligent film and come out thinking it was great.

Other times I might go and watch some dumb comedy, which has no intelligence but provides lots of cheap laughs, and I'll enjoy myself.

In both cases the viewing experience was very good. If I had to give a review of the dumb comedy, I would give it a bad one because I know in an analytical intellectual sense it isn't very good.

Same with music of this kind....

Thinking analytically I know a performance which is no more than some lights and a CD isn't 'good'. But in terms of my experience it can still be really good, because I know no one is going to be asking me for a review or analysis. I can just enjoy myself.

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In the end, festival performances are just about that 'wow' factor. It doesn't matter if its the lighting, visuals, the crowd, the sound, the songs, the musicians, the location..whatever. As long as it is memorable and impressive then that's all that matters.

If a big dance act I like gets booked, I'm certainly not going to be worrying about the lack of musicians or whether its just like a CD, I'm just going to go enjoy myself. Surely that's adding the festival atmosphere isn't it?

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but doesn't that really show up the stupidity of us humans?

What I mean is, if a person was told that they'd get the exact same experience - identical music, same soundsystem, same light show - but with the music from a CD rather than the 'band', they wouldn't be much interested. So what's really going on?

The answer is misplaced hero worship.

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Same with music of this kind....

Thinking analytically I know a performance which is no more than some lights and a CD isn't 'good'. But in terms of my experience it can still be really good, because I know no one is going to be asking me for a review or analysis. I can just enjoy myself.

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I've seen a fair bit. I recognise that individuals can have different styles and ways of making people laugh but in my eyes there are fewer differences between comedians than there are between bands.
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All the above mentioned artists are pretty much the ONLY bands I go and see for the one main reason they are all fookin incredible 'LIVE'!

Not once in the 15 years of watching Orbital (29 times including last ever show at Maida Vale NO visuals!), Chems (20+ including 10 times on the same bloody tour 2 years ago!), Underworld (20+), Prodge (10 times and that was the mid 90s not seen em since), Daft Punk (4 times including first ever live show in UK 97) Leftfield (5 including last ever performance) have I ever heard or seen a performance that even VAGUELY sounds like a cd is being played! (Personally dont like Faithless cos they are TOO live for my liking - sorry).

Every single artist has a big bank of equipment, the 'instruments' of their trade, and all tweak, twist, turn, squelch, rip up, f**k up, play with, create utterly mind bendingly awesomely different versions of the tunes you have on CD. By seeing a number of shows over the course of a tour you can hear and note the very distinct differences at each concert, see how the 'band' is progressing in the development of the sound of each tune and marvel at the tweaks that only serve to make the tunes even more awesome than the original version.

Listen to the 'Final' play of Dr Who/Chime by Orbital at Glasto 04 and very very clearly, right at the beginning the 303 goes VERY wonky indeed, no cds being played there!

The joy of seeing all of these bands (apart from the killer, mindf**king visuals which obviously help to completely add to the experience), is anticipating just what each one of these fine gentleman has done to their tunes. I certainly dont go to any live guitar show expecting to hear that much of a deviance or variation to the original tunes, ok a drum solo here or an interesting guitar riff dropped in for effect is nice but give me 2-3 blokes, a bunch of very expensive and clever electronic machinery, a pack of incredible visuals any day over a bunch of blokes standing there statically strumming guitars and singing into mics.

Yes I am a sad geek that should really try and listen to different music and see other bands but I know what makes me truly truly happy and the feeling I get when watching any of these bands is like a drug! And this summer...27 days time...very long awaited dreams will be fulfilled, 5 long years wait...'once day I shall be back'...oh never a truer sentence was spoken!

Dr Who Glasto 04 youtube

Edited by LusciousLucy
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All the above mentioned artists are pretty much the ONLY bands I go and see for the one main reason they are all fookin incredible 'LIVE'!

Not once in the 15 years of watching Orbital (29 times including last ever show at Maida Vale NO visuals!), Chems (20+ including 10 times on the same bloody tour 2 years ago!), Underworld (20+), Prodge (10 times and that was the mid 90s not seen em since), Daft Punk (4 times including first ever live show in UK 97) Leftfield (5 including last ever performance) have I ever heard or seen a performance that even VAGUELY sounds like a cd is being played! (Personally dont like Faithless cos they are TOO live for my liking - sorry).

Every single artist has a big bank of equipment, the 'instruments' of their trade, and all tweak, twist, turn, squelch, rip up, f**k up, play with, create utterly mind bendingly awesomely different versions of the tunes you have on CD. By seeing a number of shows over the course of a tour you can hear and note the very distinct differences at each concert, see how the 'band' is progressing in the development of the sound of each tune and marvel at the tweaks that only serve to make the tunes even more awesome than the original version.

Listen to the 'Final' play of Dr Who/Chime by Orbital at Glasto 04 and very very clearly, right at the beginning the 303 goes VERY wonky indeed, no cds being played there!

The joy of seeing all of these bands (apart from the killer, mindf**king visuals which obviously help to completely add to the experience), is anticipating just what each one of these fine gentleman has done to their tunes. I certainly dont go to any live guitar show expecting to hear that much of a deviance or variation to the original tunes, ok a drum solo here or an interesting guitar riff dropped in for effect is nice but give me 2-3 blokes, a bunch of very expensive and clever electronic machinery, a pack of incredible visuals any day over a bunch of blokes standing there statically strumming guitars and singing into mics.

Yes I am a sad geek that should really try and listen to different music and see other bands but I know what makes me truly truly happy and the feeling I get when watching any of these bands is like a drug! And this summer...27 days time...very long awaited dreams will be fulfilled, 5 long years wait...'once day I shall be back'...oh never a truer sentence was spoken!

Dr Who Glasto 04 youtube

Edited by BenchBuddah
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Lucy's post is interesting...Faithless should be where our tastes meet as they are as about as dance as i get but they are too'live'. One of my top Glasto acts !I think this conversation goes back to the second summer of love so called at the end of the eighties when rave culture was at its height. I remember the Shamen saying that rock music was dead - i think he may have been a little wrong. All they ever did was try to replace the rock 'gods' with dj type ''gods'. Then the Stone Roses came along

To my shame in 11 yrs ive never seen anything at the dance village which i hope to rectify. yet i know many people will camp by there and spend most of their time there. while the folky hippy types hang round Avalon and Acoustic. The indie kids congregate round john peel and other stage. The Pyramid is where it all merges together. Glasto is many festivals wrapped up in one.

For me i like to see the vibration on the strings, the human interaction of storytelling through song, i know other people just want to get wasted and dance, i prefer the pogo

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If i had to choose between 'live instrument' and electronic/dance i honestly wouldn't be able to - i like loads of stuff from both areas and stuff that is a mix of both areas.

what i will say (to the anti-guitar generalists in this thread) is that, if you're watching a static guitarist strumming along in a mediocre 'indie' band way, then you're probably watching the likes of the killers, arctic monkeys, coldplay, etc etc

instead, try 'live bands' the likes of:

battles

fiery furnaces

liars

soulwax

sonic youth

beck

my bloody valentine

no age

they are a good start if you want guitar bands who are doing/have done stuff as exciting and energetic as any dance act.

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Dare I say it tho...Coldplay are killer live now...you lot in the UK that still havent had the pleasure of their current tour cos it still hasnt landed on these shores WILL be surprised. They even got a dancey section into the show back in Oz. Nothing whiny and static about them these days.

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If i had to choose between 'live instrument' and electronic/dance i honestly wouldn't be able to - i like loads of stuff from both areas and stuff that is a mix of both areas.

what i will say (to the anti-guitar generalists in this thread) is that, if you're watching a static guitarist strumming along in a mediocre 'indie' band way, then you're probably watching the likes of the killers, arctic monkeys, coldplay, etc etc

instead, try 'live bands' the likes of:

battles

fiery furnaces

liars

soulwax

sonic youth

beck

my bloody valentine

no age

they are a good start if you want guitar bands who are doing/have done stuff as exciting and energetic as any dance act.

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Dare I say it tho...Coldplay are killer live now...you lot in the UK that still havent had the pleasure of their current tour cos it still hasnt landed on these shores WILL be surprised. They even got a dancey section into the show back in Oz. Nothing whiny and static about them these days.
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Guitar music doesnt 'do it' for me (well not since 1994, when I was still into Nirvana and indie music) but am fully appreciative to the millions of folksies out there who do. It's all noise to me mostly...but then again most of the stuff I listen to isnt very pleasant for others to listen to in their opinions.

There are just too many different types of both guitar and dance music to tar under one brush of which is better live or whatever the argument is. You certainly cant compare a pub band to the Foo's/The Who/The Stones/new and improved Coldplay. And you cant compare a bloke on a laptop in a pub to The Chems/Orbital.

The bands we are discussing - the rock gods and the electronic masters who are both worthy of their titles of gods and masters - are so in both camps eyes because they are BOTH masterful at their art...it's just that some of us prefer the sound of knob tweaking to string strumming.

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