Was in the car this morning listening to the Snakes and Arrows Live cd from Rush. My eldest daughter commented that it sounded really good for a live recording. I didn’t know what that meant so I asked her to clarify. She said most live performances today suck.
I responded that Rush is old enough that they are from the era when groups actually learned their songs.
Okay, I watched the Superbowl and have seen enough disasters in recent years to know what she meant. And it got me to thinking–has the MP3 killed live recordings? Back in the day, bands would release a double album recorded while the band was on tour. Do bands today release live albums, or has the MP3 culture and auto-tune killed all that?
I don’t really know. I haven’t really discovered any popular bands that my teenagers listen to that can boast any depth to their arrangements. the music is superficial and all sounds the same.
Pink Floyd was famous for their live shows, ushering in the era of laser lights at concerts. That, and they always had the giant pig. What bands today that aren’t from my era put on great live shows? This isn’t a rhetorical question, I really want to know.
