Monday, December 24, 2007
So, after eating two small beef wellingtons and lots of vegetables, yer Pynch feels better and decides to continue boring the universe.
Where was I? Oh, yes. The Bootleg Beatles at the NIA.
The enjoyment of any tribute band is obviously going to be dependant on how you feel about tribute bands in general. Are they a
a) Bad thing, because they stifle creativity and deny a band the chance to write and play new music?
Or are they a
b) Good thing, because they let the punters indulge in harmless nostalgia, keeping classic music alive and introducing it to new audiences who never have had the chance to see those bands live?
Personally I would go with b), but that is just me. I have seen the Bootleg Beatles 5 times in about 15 years (it would have been 6, but one year I was stricken with flu) and have enjoyed the gig every time. I'm afraid that enjoyment of a gig will win out every time over high minded ideals of music having to move forward constantly.
This time there was some fiddling with the structure of the show. Normally the show is in sections (1962 through 1963, 1964 through 1965, 1966, 1967 and then 1968 through 1969), split by archive footage, shown on the big screen, of the news and music events at the time. This time around the band skipped almost the entirety of 1964 (except "I Feel Fine") and 1966 (except for "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine") which meant that some of my very favourite songs were not performed. ("Paperback Writer", "Taxman", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "A Hard Day's Night".) Oh, well. Never mind. There were a handful of songs played that I certainly have never heard the band play live before, including "Across The Universe", "This Boy" and "If I Needed Someone" and that made up for it.
The Bootleg Beatles are very good at what they do. Musically they are really good and accurate and crucially it is all done with some humour. How about , "We'll just play another hit before we split up again..." or "Paul needs the money, so we're going to play this one..." or 'John' starting to play "Imagine" before stopping with the comment, "Sorry, I haven't written that one yet".
Well, I thought it was funny.
It was a really good gig. At least 7000 people in the cut down NIA thought so to. Up and dancing from the beginning.
Where was I? Oh, yes. The Bootleg Beatles at the NIA.
The enjoyment of any tribute band is obviously going to be dependant on how you feel about tribute bands in general. Are they a
a) Bad thing, because they stifle creativity and deny a band the chance to write and play new music?
Or are they a
b) Good thing, because they let the punters indulge in harmless nostalgia, keeping classic music alive and introducing it to new audiences who never have had the chance to see those bands live?
Personally I would go with b), but that is just me. I have seen the Bootleg Beatles 5 times in about 15 years (it would have been 6, but one year I was stricken with flu) and have enjoyed the gig every time. I'm afraid that enjoyment of a gig will win out every time over high minded ideals of music having to move forward constantly.
This time there was some fiddling with the structure of the show. Normally the show is in sections (1962 through 1963, 1964 through 1965, 1966, 1967 and then 1968 through 1969), split by archive footage, shown on the big screen, of the news and music events at the time. This time around the band skipped almost the entirety of 1964 (except "I Feel Fine") and 1966 (except for "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine") which meant that some of my very favourite songs were not performed. ("Paperback Writer", "Taxman", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "A Hard Day's Night".) Oh, well. Never mind. There were a handful of songs played that I certainly have never heard the band play live before, including "Across The Universe", "This Boy" and "If I Needed Someone" and that made up for it.
The Bootleg Beatles are very good at what they do. Musically they are really good and accurate and crucially it is all done with some humour. How about , "We'll just play another hit before we split up again..." or "Paul needs the money, so we're going to play this one..." or 'John' starting to play "Imagine" before stopping with the comment, "Sorry, I haven't written that one yet".
Well, I thought it was funny.
It was a really good gig. At least 7000 people in the cut down NIA thought so to. Up and dancing from the beginning.
Labels: Gigs
# posted by Pynchon @ 7:31 pm 
