In The End it doesn't even matter
Oct. 28th, 2010 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tj_teejayI think in the end it didn't even matter to the band that they had a couple thousand fans as their audience. What am I talking about? Well, I went to the Linkin Park concert in Cologne last night. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret having gone. I had a good time, and they played a good mixture of old and new songs (including one of my all time favorites - Breaking The Habit). But in the end, what was missing was the feeling that the band members were even remotely enjoying themselves.
There was little interaction with the fans from the band. There was barely more than a "Hello Cologne", a "You guys are awesome singers" and "Thank you, Cologne". No announcing of songs, nothing that made the whole experience a little more personal, and nothing to make the fans feel like they were more than just another city to play in on a tour through Europe.
The whole thing was also lacking band member interaction. Everyone was just doing their thing. No walking up to anyone and singing/playing with them, no jokes, no physical interaction. It had a very sterile undertone of the band just having had an argument and now they were just working through the setlist to get it done and go off to the next city. They gave one encore (and finished with a song I didn't like much at all).
It's not like I need to feel special when I watch a concert, but it sure helps to make it feel like more than an ordinary evening if the audience has the feeling that the band is having just as much fun as the fans.
And that, dear friends, is why I'm very much looking forward to the Livingston concert next Wednesday. Not only am I meeting with two friends I look forward to seeing again, I already know that Beukes, Jakob, Chris, Phil and Paolo will be having a good time, and will give the fans the impression that they are bathing in the experience as much as their audience. The fans will feel appreciated, and that adds just so much more.
I only hope the acoustics will be okay. That was one of the peeves I had with the Linkin Park concert as well. Of course it was loud. That's not unexpected, which is why I took earplugs. But it still kinda sucked. I had the feeling the sound wasn't mixed well at all. The instruments and bass vibrations were so loud and heavy that in most songs, you couldn't even properly hear the melody of the singing. There was one song where it took me until the chorus to even recognize which one it was. And that wasn't due to the earplugs, I tried a few songs without them without any significant improvement (except that it was even louder).
So now I've gone ahead and ordered ear protection made especially for music because the cheap ones you get for free on overseas plane flights just didn't cut it. Maybe I'll get to test them for Livingston on Wednesday, even though it might make me look like an alien that has little plastic thingies coming out of their ears (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hai_di, you're not easily embarrassed, are you? *wink*). I hate admitting it, but I've approached an age where intact hearing is more important to me than avoiding to look uncool. And I'm still kinda hoping that Livingston won't be loud enough to even need the earplugs.
And now it's going back to the Livingston songs to try to learn as much of the lyrics by heart as I can until Wednesday. I'm a notorious sing-alonger, and that only works when you know what you're supposed to sing. :o)
There was little interaction with the fans from the band. There was barely more than a "Hello Cologne", a "You guys are awesome singers" and "Thank you, Cologne". No announcing of songs, nothing that made the whole experience a little more personal, and nothing to make the fans feel like they were more than just another city to play in on a tour through Europe.
The whole thing was also lacking band member interaction. Everyone was just doing their thing. No walking up to anyone and singing/playing with them, no jokes, no physical interaction. It had a very sterile undertone of the band just having had an argument and now they were just working through the setlist to get it done and go off to the next city. They gave one encore (and finished with a song I didn't like much at all).
It's not like I need to feel special when I watch a concert, but it sure helps to make it feel like more than an ordinary evening if the audience has the feeling that the band is having just as much fun as the fans.
And that, dear friends, is why I'm very much looking forward to the Livingston concert next Wednesday. Not only am I meeting with two friends I look forward to seeing again, I already know that Beukes, Jakob, Chris, Phil and Paolo will be having a good time, and will give the fans the impression that they are bathing in the experience as much as their audience. The fans will feel appreciated, and that adds just so much more.
I only hope the acoustics will be okay. That was one of the peeves I had with the Linkin Park concert as well. Of course it was loud. That's not unexpected, which is why I took earplugs. But it still kinda sucked. I had the feeling the sound wasn't mixed well at all. The instruments and bass vibrations were so loud and heavy that in most songs, you couldn't even properly hear the melody of the singing. There was one song where it took me until the chorus to even recognize which one it was. And that wasn't due to the earplugs, I tried a few songs without them without any significant improvement (except that it was even louder).
So now I've gone ahead and ordered ear protection made especially for music because the cheap ones you get for free on overseas plane flights just didn't cut it. Maybe I'll get to test them for Livingston on Wednesday, even though it might make me look like an alien that has little plastic thingies coming out of their ears (
hai_di, you're not easily embarrassed, are you? *wink*). I hate admitting it, but I've approached an age where intact hearing is more important to me than avoiding to look uncool. And I'm still kinda hoping that Livingston won't be loud enough to even need the earplugs. And now it's going back to the Livingston songs to try to learn as much of the lyrics by heart as I can until Wednesday. I'm a notorious sing-alonger, and that only works when you know what you're supposed to sing. :o)
