Some of my best and worst recent experiences have been at the Trocadero in Philadelphia. This ia a tiny deco-style standing-room-only club dating to turn of the century, with prior lives as a strip joint and a Chinese theater. It now hosts small acts-- many on the rebound of second or third acts-- like PJ Harvey, Ian Hunter, Mercury Rev, X, NY Dolls, Bonnie Prince Billy. Problem is you have to wade through at least two awful warm-up bands before the headliner begins around 11PM-- by which time the crowd has winnowed down to a hundred or so. I can't imagine what it must feel like for these once-popular bands to be drawing such thin crowds on the live circuit. Often these bands have matured both as artists and musicians, and the intimacy of the performance is certainly a treat. Problem is these days the dawgs get tired and it's a long drive home to the burbs at a quarter past bedtime.
The Better My System Gets....
....the less live music shows I seem to be attending. I live in the NY Metro area and used to go to live shows all the time. But I'm doing it much less frequently these days and think two things are at work. First, I've been upgrading my system over the past two years and am now getting some pretty serious sound right here in my living room. Second, I'm finding that unless the venue and the sound crew are optimal, I'm hearing some pretty bad sound at a lot of live shows. I've sworn off large stadium-like venues for years now because the music is really secondary to the spectacle and chances are the sound is going to be really bad. But even smaller venues these days tend to get it wrong more often than right. Combine this with crowds that are often noisy (Does anybody go to hear the music anymore? Why do people insist on trying to talk over the music? Aren't there better places to mix and mingle?) packed rooms without seats, expensive drinks, ETC and I find myself more inclined to listening at home rather than out. We have some small local venues that do a pretty good job and the crowd is older and more respectful of the musicians so this can be viable alternative to listening at home. And, of course, classical and chamber music presented live in a proper room is still superior to what I can reproduce at home and so I go to quite a few of these performances but more and more I'm passing on a lot of shows because I often get more out of cranking up my home system that going out to hear live music performed in less than ideal conditions. Anyone else experiencing the same thing?
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- 20 posts total
- 20 posts total