I'm really not a fan of the absolute spectacle that has become pop music. No longer is it acceptable to get up on a large, televised stage and rock out in jeans and a shirt unless your Bob Dylan; some sort of visual stimuli seems to be the norm now, as our culture has shifted to absolute opposition of merely "listening" to music. Now, we need shiny things. Now, we need a huge lighting show, costumes, fake blood and guts and plastic dongs to captivate an audience. Dancers, revolving stages, fog machines, sets, makeup, giant swings, its a circus I swear!
It has come to the point where I feel like I am watching really bad theatre and to me, really bad theatre is when a connection can't be made. I see all this nonsense and I honestly feel such a disconnect from the stage, a disconnect that cannot and will not be bridged by a bucket of fake bile and piss being dumped on my head.
(thank you, Gwar.)The fact is that none of this seems to be happening to me. As a spectator, I feel like just that; a spectator, not participating in something special as an showgoer should feel. Yes this spectacle is being presented to me and yes, its flashy. Yes, I am being drenched in it. But its also the result of hollow mountains of money, inflated ego's and my friends, there is a mile of distance between my mind and that reality.
This is why I go to live theatre. No other art form is able to so viscerally hold up a mirror to the human condition, to take everything you don't want to look at and put it on a stage in front of you. An actor looks you right in the eye, and connects with you. Capture that element and I will play along with any sort of setting or theatricality. However, what happens when all the pomp and circumstance is presented without that element of connection? You get Lady Gaga swinging around on a giant fucking sling on the television like the Looney Toons Coyote, Gwar's aforementioned assault of fecal matter, U2 dropping $750 000 a show to surround the audience in some big fucking claw thing (pictured above), and the soulless carnival that is a live
KISS show.
With the possible exception of bands like Tool, or Coil who use such stage elements to add to the music and artistry, it is all a purposeless sham which does nothing but drive me away from the tune being sung to me.
I go to live shows not to be thrown into some world of empty noise and dazzling lights. In fact, I would take a musty bar over an intricate light show any day. No, I see music live to be captured in the energy and emotion of the musician, and in the case of more artistic bands, to witness how they express themselves. When those live stage elements compliment the lyric, empower the music, and stimulate the mind, it is such a beautiful thing.
But why not simply trust in the music alone! If your music is truly heartfelt, all the glitz and glamour is truly unneeded. All you have to do to make an impression on losers like me is rock your damn heart out, and mean it! Get the crowd moving and grooving, play straight from the heart, and mean every single lyric you sing, while taking comfort in the fact that your lyrics can actually be focused on without a layer of makeup obscuring your face.
As I have belaboured before, its all about honesty. Just play your music, and let the audience be captured by it's brilliance alone rather then shiny packaging and blinding lights.
