In with the old out with the new
Posted by: Dougunn on 03 July 2005
Is it just me or does the performances of the Who and Pink Floyd at Live 8 add weight to the old argument that so many bands today are really pretty crap.
Modern bands seem so preoccupied with looking cool that it becomes all they are - if 'coolness' is measured in whose clothes you can wear or how deep and angst ridden you can appear in an interview with a fawning journalist.
I thought the set by the Who was totally blinding and the performance of Pete Townsend really defined pop coolness i.e making somethng hard look really easy and leaving those watching thinking I wish I could do that.
I would be fascinated to know what the fans of Razorlight, the Killers etc who watched Live 8 made of the Who and Pink Floyd. Do they see and appreciate the musicianship or is it just sad Dad rock?
Oh, and one final thing, am I the only one who enjoyed Velvet Revolver? Most of the talking heads during Live 8 seemed unable to cope with VR's performance - lost for words to describe something outside their usual diet of anodyne pap.
Re-reading this post it sounds like a rant - it isn't meant to be!
Doug
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by garyi
I thought the Killers were very good, but a bit like talking heads front man in his performance.
Other than that it was the tap tap tap of the drum beat from the anthem bands, the old boys put them to shame. There again I have a few youngins that work for me who thought the opposite, so we need to accept our own leanings lol.
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by BigH47
Velvet Revolver were better on radio!
Howard
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by Dougunn
quote:
Velvet Revolver were better on radio!
LOL!
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by Steve G
There were some decent perfomances but IMHO Pink Floyd made everyone else (including The Who) look like amateurs by comparison.
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by HTK
Pretty much sums up my feelings. An at times, rather dull, processed, procession of McMusic – but this must have something to do with my age. On the one hand, old gits like me embrace cynicism, but as a music lover all my life I can say for the most part that it seems rather pale and shallow at the moment. Much of the ‘new’ good stuff seems to be a rehash of the good old stuff, and the crypt opening properties of Live8 (and its ilk) remind us why we were so passionate about our bands in the 60/70s and 80s to a lesser extent . Taking the sentimentality filter off for a moment – I guess you would expect musos who had lived that long to be capable of outplaying the field – experience counts, even after periods of inactivity. Floyd easily took top prize for that.
I too thought VR were just bloody amazing. The unexpected little treasure of Live8 for me (notwithstanding all the excellent performances that I expected to see), like George Thorogood was at Live Aid. Purely a matter of personal taste of course.
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by graham55
Pink Floyd easily topped the lot, for me.
Now we need to start wondering if there's any chance of any more from them: pigs may indeed fly!
G
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by Dougunn
HTK
quote:
Taking the sentimentality filter off for a moment – I guess you would expect musos who had lived that long to be capable of outplaying the field – experience counts, even after periods of inactivity. Floyd easily took top prize for that.
Yes, I agree, this point is extremely valid.
I wonder where will be in twenty years? Who will replace Pete Townsend, Gave Gilmour, Roger Waters et al. It appears as though to today's artists musicianship, skill and virtuosity just require too much effort.
Why work hard when all you need to is trot out some plodding chords, look dour, include a few retro samples or riffs and let the media convince the world you are great.
Sigh
D
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by Guido Fawkes
Dougunn
Agree totally - the Floyd and Who and Mr Mac where the stars by far - even if Pink wasn't well and stayed back at the hotel. I just can't get enthusiastic about the new bands like Razorlight? Mind you I don't much care for Coldplay, U2, Robbie Williams or Madonna - so perhaps I'm just getting old. Gotta go and listen to some Wimple Winch.
ROTF
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by bhazen
It's the songs, more so than the singers...some of the newer bands can play quite well, but their material is what suffers when placed side-by-side with the old school...
I'll admit I was hoping for an onstage act of forgiveness between Dave and Rog; I give Rog full marks for giving the performance the full quota of heart. Dave did seem a bit like he was avoiding the issue. Only saw two songs though, on the TV.
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by MichaelC
Pink Floyd were excellent. The current generation of bands (exception below) have a long way to go to match the musicianship of Pink Floyd.
I have to say though that Velvet Revolver pipped Pink Floyd for their performance. Very tight performance. And I wondered when the megaphone would come out.
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by Consciousmess
I agree with you Michael, Pink Floyd were excellent. I enjoy their music incredibly as it is as it really gives my hifi a testing. However, I hope they re-release all their tracks remastered in 24bit. Can you see them doing this?
Jon
Posted on: 03 July 2005 by Chris Dolan
Hmmmm
I got a few texts while they were on - Floyd wow!
I enjoyed Wish you were here but I thought the Who and Pink Floyd actually spoilt what had gone before. A bit like looking back to 1966 when we want to win the World Cup in 2006.
They slowed everything down and made it boring.
As my daughter said "I wish they would do the wall so I can go to bed"
The 1985 Queen equivalent was (sad to say it) Robbie Williams.
Scissor Sisters and Snow Patrol did well.
Although I should admit to watching the cricket!!
Chris
Posted on: 04 July 2005 by Berlin Fritz
I couldn't start a new thread for some reason, but I wanted to mention the sad departure of the great talent Luther Van Dross who died pretty young the other day.
Fritz Von RESPEKT²
Posted on: 06 July 2005 by Dougunn
Blimey!
I just saw Pete Doherty's performance with Elton John (missed it on the day) on AOL's streaming highlights.
Boy did his performance stink!
I rest my case!
D
Posted on: 06 July 2005 by greeny
I only saw a few hours of the Live 8. And Yes the Floyd were brilliant, but I think you are being unfair on the rest. Most of whom I saw were pretty good (Who, VR, madonna, Maria Carey, Robbie Williams, etc). The sound was generally good (on TV at Least) and few bands were really poor (Babyshambles the aptly named exceptions).
Compairing to Live Aid, where at least half of the acts were poor, and Queen were so much better than everyone else that it was embarrassing. Live 8 was a complete success technically. Obviously you ain't going to like everyone, but most of them did themselves justice I thought.
Posted on: 06 July 2005 by greeny
Double post
Posted on: 06 July 2005 by Dougunn
Greeny
I agree, VR, Who, PF, Robbie Williams, Scissor Sisters & Paul McCartney gave great performances.
Madonna gave a good performance too but, in my opinion was a cold hard bitch.
But I would not put Killers, Razorlight, Keene et al in the same league as the above and it was seeing tghem side by side that threw the gulf in ability between them into stark relief.
D
Posted on: 06 July 2005 by fred simon
.
Just watched the Live 8 webcasts of Annie Lennox and Sting, both of whom gave very moving performances.
Lennox performed an intimate solo version of Why (a very pertinent question, given the theme of the event), and then a rollicking version of Little Bird and a totally smoking Sweet Dreams. I just love this woman and her music.
Sting, for all the complaints one hears about him going soft (complaints I don't share), rocked very hard, and both tunes I heard, Every Breath You Take and Driven To Tears, were right at home in the context of the event, especially the latter song, the lyrics of which directly address the very issues at hand:
How can you say that you’re not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?
What is my reaction, what should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity
.
