Very true, I think. There are a lot of people playing tired covers but not many who know how to put on a real show. People can get all of the music they want at home now. What they can't get at home is the experience of being part of a good show.
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Are Local Venues Killing Music?
- Thread starter socialleper
- Start date
Bigger acts come through here on the weekdays too, which frankly makes me mad. Small bands that are touring and I want to support are playing 30 miles away on a Tuesday. I'm constantly missing shows because 4:30am comes just too damn early.
It sounds like you're trying to pin problems with gigs on bands you deam not to be good enough. Sorry, I don't buy that kind of compensating blame shifting. You can switch those nouns and it sounds just as rediculous. "Boxing isn't great anymore because of all the mediocre boxers" nope sorry, times change, the public changes. Don't shift your frustrations onto other bands.
This summer I was out at a bar on the water (outside, pool nearby)...middle of the day, sunny...attractive, young crowd (some with kids who were playing ring toss). Great place. Acoustic combo fires up and immediately launches into...
"Needle and the Damage Done"
Follows it up with...
"As My Guitar Gently Weeps"
...and so on.
If these guys had played "Brandy" or "Your Kiss in On My List" or "What a Fool Believes" they would have slayed it. Instead they were simply ignored. (and hopefully never booked again)
"Needle and the Damage Done"
Follows it up with...
"As My Guitar Gently Weeps"
...and so on.
If these guys had played "Brandy" or "Your Kiss in On My List" or "What a Fool Believes" they would have slayed it. Instead they were simply ignored. (and hopefully never booked again)
Tell that to some of the people in that thread - some of whom are working musicians.
FWIW I've learned not to automatically put much faith in the "common sense" argument.
True, young people now don't prioritize getting their license early, going out and partying. They can stay home now, meet mates online, hook up later. They don't appreciate musicianship when they listen to music it is completely sampled and their favorite artist plays gigs in front of a laptop. Even shopping malls are shutting down because people simply don't have to go out anymore to get what they want, shopping, food, music, socializing is all included.
Quotation marks are used when citing a literal statement made by another person. Nobody said what you quoted.
I'm not sure what venues you're going to. I've been a working musician for about 20 years now. I work all the popular live music venues in town, and this is a huge city. I watch who comes and goes and in most cases it isn't young people. It's the 35+ crowd. In the state of Texas you can lookup the revenue of any licensed entity. The revenues are dropping.
It's not. I attended a colloquium on this issue as it pertained to cities all over the world. Apparently they now have a "night mayor" in Paris specifically to deal with this kind of problem.
And to amplify, it will get a LOT worse before it gets better.
Think of virtual reality and computer games, how far they've come, and how the improvements are exponentially increasing. Now slide forward in time say, 20 years.
With the internet of things, where your refridgerator orders food when it is needed and it is delivered to your home by a self driving vehicle that slips it into a side door on your home connected to the "built in" refrigerator, and with ultra real video games and "other experiences" in the virtual world, there will be little reason to leave your home.
Well...I wouldn't hold not wanting to get their license against them. I didn't care whether or not I got one - unlike my two sisters who took their driving test as close to their 16th birthday as they could arrange it. (Ah! those were the days! 16 to drive and 18 to legally drink. Yessir!
) I made it to the summer of my 17th year before my old man put his foot down and ordered me to get a driver's license. I saw no need to have one since I didn't own a car or have the use of one whenever I wanted it. I figured once I had a license the only thing that would change for me was I'd get sent out on "fetch & carry" errands on a regular basis. And I was right. 
If you're playing at bars or clubs. It seems the ones that cater to 30-50 year olds pay bands the best. The early 20 something crowd, eat before they get there and usually sneak out to their car and take shots. Most don't have two nickels to rub together. Not to mention they tend to bar hop more than the older crowd. But, that's just my personal experience around here.
That's interesting. I got my license on my birthday and waited anxiously for it for years! I was able to occasionally drive my parents car until my dad helped me get a 1963 rambler that I had to pay him back for. He talked the used car salesman down from $325 to $315. Man, I had fun in that thing.Well...I wouldn't hold not wanting to get their license against them. I didn't care whether or not I got one - unlike my two sisters who took their driving test as close to their 16th birthday as they could arrange it. (Ah! those were the days! 16 to drive and 18 to legally drink. Yessir!
I'm 63 now and absolutely love to drive. I need to with a 150 mile round trip commute...
Good point, newer generations are poorer now than their parents were. They are buying less drinks, fewer albums, and consuming a lot more free stuff. I don't blame them, just an observation.
This is why I gave up being in a band for money a LONG time ago. I need SOME pay just for the perception of being worth enough to get paid, but that is it. Though the really well paying gig never hurts. But even then it is more of an ego boost than anything else.
Did the commute thing for a number of years up and down CT's eternally congested I-95, with fairly regular runs out to NJ and NY. And I got pretty sick of it after better than a decade. Figured I'd escape that once I started my own IT business. But even with that I'd be on the road constantly.
I personally don't care to be the one driving. Love to go places - when it's not on business. And I'm a very good driver. Zero moving violations to date - knock wood. And the three accidents I was involved in over the years were all me getting hit by someone else, so I was named as being the "not at fault" driver each time. And I've got the super low car insurance rates to prove it.
But I do dislike driving. Driving to me is like inventory planning & management, and logistics. Those are something else I'm really good at that I don't particularly like doing.
C'est la vie.
So, I take it you don't drift?Did the commute thing for a number of years up and down CT's eternally congested I-95, with fairly regular runs out to NJ and NY. And I got pretty sick of it after better than a decade. Figured I'd escape that once I started my own IT business. But even with that I'd be on the road constantly.
I personally don't care to be the one driving. Love to go places - when it's not on business. And I'm a very good driver. Zero moving violations to date - knock wood. And the three accidents I was involved in over the years were all me getting hit by someone else, so I was named as being the "not at fault" driver each time. And I've got the super low car insurance rates to prove it.
But I do dislike driving. Driving to me is like inventory planning & management, and logistics. Those are something else I'm really good at that I don't particularly like doing.
C'est la vie.
I drive an FRS on the twisties of KY at about 65 mph, always on the lookout for deer. I drift fairly often, which is why I usually get less than 12k miles out of a set of tires.
But I HATED commuting in Seattle. Driving as fast as you can on picturesque back roads is different than inching forward for 20 miles on I-5. In a very real way, they are not even the same thing.
Side note, two things I've noticed here that I think are related: because the traffic on I65 into Louisville is around 80 mph and drops to 75 when you get near the city, there are a lot of really bad one car accidents. You don't see that in Seattle rush hour because it's hard to get into much trouble at 20 mph.
