Bear with me here, but whenever I read these articles I am consistently struck by the fact that I have no desire whatsoever to interface with any show described within them basically ever. Sure, it is fine to have plenty of mainstream pop shows and large events, but the underground has died and now the culture is all fucked up. Live Nation owns everything, and their curation of shows this year has been absolutely abysmal from my perspective. For those happy to watch half hearted arena or opera house performances of bands from 10+ years ago who make much worse music than they once did there is a lot to like, but I am not interested in the shows that anyone in the country is putting on right now in any level. I've seen listings for every show in New Zealand for the next year, and for me personally there are only two hardcore punk bands coming playing small local shows over the next year that seem interesting, there is nothing else being promoted that I am remotely interested in. I think this perspective is likely more common among "music fan" types than people realise, and that really only very small segments of the people who like to watch music performances are being catered to even when the promoters seem to perceive that they are casting a wide net.
I’ve heard this from several people now and I totally get it. We have so many stadium shows now - more than ever - but it’s the smaller stuff that is struggling. I’ve got some posts about this coming - keep an eye out 👀
Looking forward to it - and needless to say really but regardless of my personal interest in attending I am always happy to read any coverage on here of these events, especially given recent and ongoing developments in the space. Fundamentally the issue seems to me as an economic one: the more successful musical movements in this country were carried out under circumstances where the musicians had ample time, and as the venues don't pay local bands squat it's barely possible for even the high level working studio musicians to make a consistent living, let alone one in line with rents in the cities. My own experience was that attempting to interface with the local music scene and play shows myself was consistently unpleasant, never paid on time, and Eyegum tried to pay me in "San Fran Super Jugs" (my father was an alcoholic). Now I suppose that these are "Live Nation San Fran Super Jugs".
It’s an absolutely insane time in the live event space right? Every week I expect things to nosedive and yet … more and more massive stuff just keeps getting announced. The conflict with what’s going on with inflation/mortgage rates/cost of living and job losses isn’t lost on me (and is affecting me; my wife works at Kate Sylvester, which announced it would close this week.)
I’ll say this - the reasoning given for taking a gap year is completely in line with the spirit of the event. Only Splore would take a year off for its attendees’ well-being.
Bear with me here, but whenever I read these articles I am consistently struck by the fact that I have no desire whatsoever to interface with any show described within them basically ever. Sure, it is fine to have plenty of mainstream pop shows and large events, but the underground has died and now the culture is all fucked up. Live Nation owns everything, and their curation of shows this year has been absolutely abysmal from my perspective. For those happy to watch half hearted arena or opera house performances of bands from 10+ years ago who make much worse music than they once did there is a lot to like, but I am not interested in the shows that anyone in the country is putting on right now in any level. I've seen listings for every show in New Zealand for the next year, and for me personally there are only two hardcore punk bands coming playing small local shows over the next year that seem interesting, there is nothing else being promoted that I am remotely interested in. I think this perspective is likely more common among "music fan" types than people realise, and that really only very small segments of the people who like to watch music performances are being catered to even when the promoters seem to perceive that they are casting a wide net.
I’ve heard this from several people now and I totally get it. We have so many stadium shows now - more than ever - but it’s the smaller stuff that is struggling. I’ve got some posts about this coming - keep an eye out 👀
Looking forward to it - and needless to say really but regardless of my personal interest in attending I am always happy to read any coverage on here of these events, especially given recent and ongoing developments in the space. Fundamentally the issue seems to me as an economic one: the more successful musical movements in this country were carried out under circumstances where the musicians had ample time, and as the venues don't pay local bands squat it's barely possible for even the high level working studio musicians to make a consistent living, let alone one in line with rents in the cities. My own experience was that attempting to interface with the local music scene and play shows myself was consistently unpleasant, never paid on time, and Eyegum tried to pay me in "San Fran Super Jugs" (my father was an alcoholic). Now I suppose that these are "Live Nation San Fran Super Jugs".
It’s an absolutely insane time in the live event space right? Every week I expect things to nosedive and yet … more and more massive stuff just keeps getting announced. The conflict with what’s going on with inflation/mortgage rates/cost of living and job losses isn’t lost on me (and is affecting me; my wife works at Kate Sylvester, which announced it would close this week.)
I’ll say this - the reasoning given for taking a gap year is completely in line with the spirit of the event. Only Splore would take a year off for its attendees’ well-being.
:)
I really wanna go to that Chris Stapleton show tho
Well you enjoy that one Eddie :)