Dream on, fools.
If they could bring Walter Becker back, I’d pay to virtually watch a Steely Dan concert.
‘We need each other’s smiling faces, synchronic movements, and even body odors. It’s part of the natural human need for community.’
you mean the cardboard faces at the football games didn’t cut it...?
Which rock star will be the first to get stoned and break a leg falling off a virtual stack of amps?
>> the intense thrill we get from a mass gathering with a common purpose. You’ll find it at rock shows, political rallies, and religious revivals.
A concert or party or church gathering does not have to be particularly large to be an exciting and rewarding experience. Only the FOMO crowd (fear of missing out) go to events to be seen and show off online to their friends who did not go.
>>Durkheim saw this act as the basis for shared religious experience and group solidarity. We need each other’s smiling faces, synchronic movements, and even body odors. It’s part of the natural human need for community.
Nope. I don’t need to smell crazy crowds.
That said, movies work best in a theater with a respectful audience where everyone in the audience has a realization or awareness or response at the same time. That collective engagement can enhance the movie you are seeing, especially comedies where the roar of laughter is genuine and not canned response as it is on television.
>>Much like the leaders of this year’s World Economic Forum, the big thinkers at last weekend’s SXSW called for a “Great Reset” in entertainment. If their overarching vision comes to pass, future “live” concerts will be immersive digital environments complete with augmented reality—basically, rave culture writ large.
80% of the money in music in the year before Covid came from streaming content.
Much easier for them to do the same with the concert industry. No longer needing to rent a big venue, line the pockets of city councilmembers so they can have the exclusive contract on said civic venues, no longer having to share a cut of the ticket sales with Ticketmaster or “Stubhub”. And because streaming is already covered in their contracts it makes sure more of the money goes to the corporation behind the “stars”.
>>For a year now, almost every live show has been held in a virtual format. For the most part, the experience is super-lame, like a long Zoom call where you never get to talk. Despite their best efforts, set designers and VR programmers haven’t synthesized Durkheim’s collective effervescence. But they’re trying.
The best I’ve seen have been small stage, well captured sound and light (whether in an empty club or simply at home or a home studio). And the performer engages with the livestream audience reading their live comments and interacting. Smaller scale shows, “local/regional” artists playing to an international audience of 20-300 people generally for “tips”.
The “bigger” shows will never have the feel at home but if they wanted to make it more like “live” experiences let the audience viewers toggle between 3 or 4 different camera angles (whole stage, spotlight on the singer, etc.) rather than all of the rapid edits forced on the viewer.
The most unusual staging I saw last year was a Japanese band that played in the back of a minivan/SUV while it was tearing down the highway at night. They were all cramped in the very back banging on the drums, playing the guitars, and screaming their words. Viewer saw the band (facing the tailgate) and the highway movement as the vehicle was in motion.
>>There’s a genuine religious zeal at the heart of rave culture,
What good is a rave without people, sex, or Ecstasy?
The stage had painted backdrops and backgrounds.
Movies have rear projection.
Video has green screen.
So what’s the big deal??