Re: questions & stuff

Dirk van den Heuvel (dirk.v@ix.netcom.com)
Wed, 10 Jul 1996 09:15:16 -0500


At 07:18 PM 7/9/96 +0000, you wrote:
>i think it _is_ a mistake to _expect_ producers to put on a good live
>show; it's not a mistake to _hope_ they will. i don't think these
>producers sit around thinking "we can put on a kicking live show
>for our fans" but instead are told by their agents "yeah, your fans
>know you're producers and that you'll just be twiddling, but they
>still want to see that." promoters and agents know that thousands
>flock to raves, and why should a chem. bros. show be much
>different from a true rave? it's nice that some groups can put on a
>"show," but, call me a cynic, i don't know why anyone would expect
>them too.
>
Well after lurking a bit I feel compelled to reply. Any performer that goes
on stage owes the audience a good show and the audience has a right to
expect to be entertained. If all the Chemical Bros can do is twiddle knobs
then they need to augment the show with more lights, films, dancers, etc.
The best rave show I ever saw is still Njoi at the Limelight 5-6 years ago
and all they did was play keyboards and sequencers (and the guys at Plus 8
told me they weren't even doing that-they were just pretending while
everything played on DAT) HOWEVER they had two dancers (one being the lovely
Saffron) and a great light show. They whole thing was so full of energy it
was great. Last week I saw Orbital and while it dragged a bit at times the
combination of two films screens and some excellent lighting helped to make
two guys messing with electronics interesting. Having said that back when I
was into industrial dance music I would see many bands that were primarily
synthesizer/sampler based and overall they kicked the shit out of these
raves shows in terms of creativity and energy (on the stage that is, many
rave show audiences have so much energy they could power a small city).
Anybody who ever saw a Skinny Puppy, PWEI, Ministry, or PTV show will know
what I mean...

--Dirk van den Heuvel--
Dirk.V@ix.netcom.com
CARGO RECORDS AMERICA INC.
The Premier Distributor of Acid Jazz in the U.S. since '93