I’m a huge fan of going to a live music show. What’s better than going to see your favorite artist blow the speakers and sing the songs you know by heart? Fist pumping, stereo-blasting and rocking out to whatever you love, are the main reasons people enjoy concerts, (unless you go to a calmer music show). There are concerts in which you go and see a real performer and performance; and sadly, these days, there are concerts where the performer just isn’t a real performer. Let me explain.
My first concert was at the Fox Theatre, (beautiful setting), to see The White Stripes. I was asked to go and I knew nothing of what The White Stripes were. I was in for a serious wake-up call. Jack White and his “sister” Meg, orchestrate the two-man band; Meg keeps the beat on the drums, while Jack puts on the show of a life time. Dancing across the stage hitting riffs on the guitar, balancing the piano and stroking the xylophone all the time while singing, was like seeing a five-man band perform at their best. Immediately, I was The White Stripes number one fan!
Jack White wasn’t satisfied by just having The Whites Stripes and holding the title of Rolling Stone’s 17th best guitarist ever, he decided to join another band, The Racontuers of which I was also blessed to see live. In The Racontuers he sang co-vocals and lead guitar. Bored, White decided to create another band called Dead Weather where he performed limited guitar but mainly played the drums, equally as exciting to watch. Needless to say Jack White is a real performer who gives his audience his all every night whether it be with The White Stripes, The Racontuers or Dead Weather.
Since my first concert experience I’ve been able to see many other great live performances. Anyone from Jay-Z, to OAR, to Coldplay, to Stevie Wonder, to Kings of Leon and even Lady GaGa, I have seen some amazing performers play the most incredible live shows. These kinds of shows are what the average concert music enthusiast live for. Watch Beyonce perform a live show and you will see a woman sing her heart out, dance like no one is watching and all the while manage not to fall from wearing high-heels. These are performers!
Once we get spoiled and jaded from watching these amazing shows we start to recognize those artists who cannot perform. These are the kind of artist who sounds completely different live than they do on the radio. In studio’s today there is technology that can make someone sound beautiful even though they don’t, (ask Milli Vanilli). It’s a shame that we support people like this. They go on stage and try to dance and sing, but can’t do both so they lip sync. If we wanted to hear the DJ play your record and you’re lip syncing I could watch you on MTV Jams.
Another pet peeve of a concert enthusiast is an artist who goes on stage and yells every other word of their song. I’m not saying this is true of all rapper’s but this is common in rap shows. I’ve seen my share of rap concerts and those artists such as Jay-Z and Nas perform great in their shows. But, it’s annoying to watch a “talented” artist go up on stage and listen to them yell their lyrics along with their on-stage posse.
This recent Music Awards show Britney Spears, Kesha and Beyonce all performed. What I wanted to really focus on was not just the glitter and lightshow, but how well these similar pop artists performed and what I found was obvious. Beyonce blew me away with her perfectly choreographed dancing and flawless vocals. I was in shock to see how well she put on this amazing show and dance in these high heels. Next was Kesha, who performed an average show, yelling most of her lyrics. It seemed as though she was more interested in the flying stars and hoopla instead of the music. And last and certainly least the infamous Britney Spears was next to perform. After watching Beyonce perform, it made Britney look like a rag tag Barbie, stiff-legging her way through dance moves and lip syncing her way through the simplest song ever written. This drove me crazy. By supporting Britney’s career we are saying that any pretty person can become a million-dollar pop star, even if they can’t sing or dance or perform.
What I’m trying to allude to is that people pay a lot of money to go to a concert. Do you want to spend your hard earned money to watch an artist who isn’t worthy of it? Or go to a concert and be in awe of how hard the performers work to please their fans and audience? Whether they play an instrument, dance and sing or put on a phenomenal rap show, a live concert should be real, not some fake singing, every-other-word yelling, glitter invested show. We, as fans, deserve better than that.
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