Too old for live music?

Posted by: nicnaim on 14 November 2007

It sometimes strikes me that there is considerably more discussion about the kit on which to play recorded music than actually experiencing the thrill of it live. Should I really be surprised about this given that it is a hi-fi forum?

The "what are you listening to" thread has a healthy readership (452198 views) and response rate (20750 replies), and I for one have picked up a number of discs as a result. By contrast the "what was your last concert you went to" has only 668 replies and 35995 views.

The main forums posts stack up like so:
Music Room 98k posts
Hi-Fi Corner 372k posts
Padded Cell 119k posts

My question is this, are we too old or too comfortable to get out of our computer seats or listening chairs to listen to live music any more? Or is it a matter of decent venues and decent choice of music?

Regards

Nic
Posted on: 17 November 2007 by Diccus62
quote:
Originally posted by hungryhalibut:
quote:
Aged 46, I am now off out to your favourite venue to see Kate Walsh and Josh Ritter


Aged 46, I'm now about to cook dinner for friends, open a couple of bottles of red, and reach for the jazz. Oh dear!! Still, we did go to see The Importance of Being Earnest at the Chichester Festival Theatre in the week. Does that count as a gig? I thought not!

Nigel


There can't be many Rock Stars called Ernest.........tho probably someone will prove me wrong Winker
Posted on: 17 November 2007 by Officer DBL
What about the one who drove the fastest milk cart in the West? Smile
Posted on: 17 November 2007 by JWM
quote:
Originally posted by hungryhalibut:
Aged 46, I'm now about to cook dinner for friends, open a couple of bottles of red, and reach for the jazz...


Nigel,
Are we in fact the same person? Big Grin (Though I am actually 'only' 43...)

With good wishes from this silver-templed smoothy,
James
Posted on: 17 November 2007 by nicnaim
Diccus,

Kate was great (again) on stage as well as being incredibly sweet at the meet and greet / CD signing. Bought the T-shirt this time!

As it happens I was wearing the T-shirt from the Richard Hawley gig that we attended, which she spotted straight away. My Mum took some very poor quality pics of the Kate posing with me on the phone camera, which I may post if I can figure out how to get them onto the Mac. Must get an iPhone, life would be far more compatible.

Munch, if you read this, as well as having a great voice, she is really lovely in real life. Very approachable, as well as being ever so slightly gorgeous Big Grin. You should try and catch her headline tour next year.

BTW, Josh Ritter was ok. A very enthusiastic performer with a decent band, but did not particularly float my boat musically.

Regards

Nic

quote:
Originally posted by Diccus62:
quote:
Originally posted by nicnaim:
Diccus,

Aged 46, I am now off out to your favourite venue to see Kate Walsh and Josh Ritter Big Grin

Nic


Enjoy yourself mate, say hi to kate for me Winker
Posted on: 17 November 2007 by nicnaim
Nigel,

Nothing wrong with that, I do it all the time. Cooking and music go hand in hand in our house, which is why I have a Nait 2 based system in the kitchen, but a bit of live music every now and again is very good for the soul.

Regards

Nic

quote:
Originally posted by hungryhalibut:


Aged 46, I'm now about to cook dinner for friends, open a couple of bottles of red, and reach for the jazz.

Nigel
Posted on: 18 November 2007 by Iron Cobra
Diccus

When I fist started going to concerts the "City Hall" type venues were the only places for bands to play.
Even to this day some of my favourite gigs have been at venues like Newcastle and Sheffield City Hall, Mancheser Apollo and Hammersmith Odeon.
The advent of the "Arena" took away the intimacy of the City Hall.
I will not go into great comparison, but Rush at Hammersmith Odeon in 1980 was far better than the other gigs at the Arenas.

In 1980 I was heavily in gigging and music was my life. This was 4 years before I knew what real HiFi was. So, quoting Voltaire "without music there is no HiFi".
My son is 12, he is into the same music as me, went to see Rush last month and has been drumming for 18 months. His music listening is done on an iPod. Obviously music comes first.
As we older generation fade away, will Hi Fi Corner fade with us?
Posted on: 18 November 2007 by nicnaim
A couple of pics of the lovely Kate from last night (and not so lovely me). Sorry about the terrible quality. The one with me was taken by my Mum and Kate was wetting herself laughing about her efforts with the little buttons. I took the second one, which is only marginally better.

One definite advantage of a live performance is the opportunity to cuddle up to a lovely lady like Kate Big Grin

Regards

Nic