Two Coachella Disasters...a philosophical take

[zeronyne]

Any of you who keep up with various genres represented at Coachella probably had an interesting pair of weekends. Lots of minor controversy, including Blur scolding their audience for being so dead. But two controversies deserve a little bit of discussion here because one is gear-related and one is performance related.

 

First off is Grimes. If you don't know who Grimes is in a musical context, then this post probably isn't for you. I didn't watch her whole set, but there was a notable issue with it. Parts of her set were playing back at an insane tempo, and it was clear she didn't know how to defeat the incorrect beat mapping on her decks. I think she even called it out. This one I blame solely on her crew/manager. I mean, of course she should know how to use the gear she is piloting, but you cannot tell me that her manager set her up at Coachella without any technical assistance. I'd expect this at a club date where she just rolls in with her laptop, but come on, this is a destination venue. On the "up" side, at least we know that Grimes isn't "lipsyncing" to a single track mix.

Which brings us to the second relevant controversy. Le Sserafim is a KPop girl group from the same company as BTS and New Jeans (I only mention it because non-Asians are more familiar with those two), and riding on the inertia from past iconic performances by BlackPink and 2NE1, they were expected to create quite a stir. And they did. The first weekend, they chose to primarily use live vocals (you need to understand that not singing live is common and accepted in modern KPop for a variety of reasons, the first being the technicality of the choreography and the highly invasive production of the studio versions of the songs). They definitely sounded like a high school talent show compared to their recorded versions, including their live versions on Korean broadcasts. I think they simply got over their skis in terms of what they thought they were capable of. But the Internet response was jaw-dropping even in today's climate. The 17 year old was invited to end her life for "ruining" coachella, and the oldest member, who is a veteran of the industry (having successfully debuted in 4 different groups) was just ROASTED on social media. Again, I'm going to have to put the "blame" on their creative director or production manager for choosing this venue to completely change their show and how they go about presenting it. It's like making it to the Superbowl and then deciding to reinvent all of the plays. There were some odd choices, especially from a production company that is used to handling performances of one of the biggest groups in the world (BTS), crossing all kinds of cultural and political boundaries.

Their second performance was fine. It showed they know how to adjust...very Agile, in consulting terms.

 

Music is in such a transitional state right now...I wonder how it's all going to pan out.

 

[David Emm]

1 hour ago, zeronyne said:

Music is in such a transitional state right now...I wonder how it's all going to pan out.

 

I've been saying that for quite a few years and nothing has "panned out" due to technology & social forces rolling on as they always do. Its akin to the physics truism about light behaving as both a particle and a wave phenomenon, depending on the situation. In fact, the longer I compose my own music and the less I follow industry trends, the more I understand that music SHOULD remain in transition and only "pan out" at the point where you finish your latest composition. Its ultimately abstract and highly subjective.

 

I also note an "American Dad" episode where the plot revolved around a flash drive with a giant EDM set on it. It was part of the joke that it was casually downloaded off the Net and when the drive got broken, panic ensued. Sounds all too familiar, when I think of the times a dead AC cord or a failed floppy disk cratered me!   

[Anderton]

1 hour ago, zeronyne said:

The 17 year old was invited to end her life for "ruining" coachella, and the oldest member, who is a veteran of the industry (having successfully debuted in 4 different groups) was just ROASTED on social media.

 

Social media is out of control. Technical errors and bad judgement notwithstanding, one act that's over their heads doesn't "ruin" coachella, unless you're a super-entitled person who thinks the entire universe exists exclusively for you, and it revolves around your every thought.

 

The spate of "influencers" dying at early ages is disturbing. The cause of death is often not given, which to me implies either suicide or an overdose. I avoid Facebook and have stopped posting on Instagram. This is a really bad move in terms of promoting myself, but at the moment it feels like the right thing to do. That's why I wrote Asocial Media. 

 

Anyway, back to the OP. You have the perfect storm of over-reliance on technology, inadequate preparation, and (aside from Le Sserafim) an inability to pivot when you're so locked into technology. I think those who have mentioned that local clubs and small-to-moderate size audiences are the future may be right. I have no desire to catch a stadium or arena show, or got to a festival. But I could be pulled out of my cocoon for a good live act in a human-sized venue. 

[zeronyne]

3 hours ago, Anderton said:

I think those who have mentioned that local clubs and small-to-moderate size audiences are the future may be right. I have no desire to catch a stadium or arena show or go to a festival. But I could be pulled out of my cocoon for a good live act in a human-sized venue. 

I think this aligns with my constant mantra that IF music survives, it may open up opportunities for an increase of the razor thin layer of musicians who are not superstars but can make a living. If club and bar-sized venues become normalized as the main way to consume music performance along with streaming, it may trigger a small, practical renaissance of performance. And with today's tools, a highly curated audio AND visual performance in a controlled venue could become a genre in iteself.

[KuruPrionz]

I haven't been to a "big show" in a long time. 

This will date me but I think the last one I saw was at Grizzly Stadium in Fresno - BB King was the headliner and Jeff Beck opened the show. It was 111 degrees and a bit humid, I understand that Jeff Beck got up and jammed with BB on most of the shows on that tour but not in Fresno. Can't say I blame him. 

 

Bellingham is 110,000 people now, it was much smaller when I moved here in 2005. They can't get big acts here and there isn't a venue large enough for such an event anyway. Fresno did have Selland Arena - 10,000 seats and being in-between Los Angeles and San Francisco we got quite a few big acts there. I'm not inclined to drive to Seattle or Vancouver BC to take in a high end concert in an appropriate venue, you cannot imagine the shits I do not give. 

 

Attempting to quantify or make music "obey etiquette" is absurd and counter productive. Let it be what it is!!!!

I truly can't imagine going to Coachella and hanging out for the weekend to hear live music. I just head down to one of our local clubs and listen to local music. 

I have noticed that our world up here is gravitating towards more duo and solo acts and fewer bands. I'm OK with that, I either like the music or I don't and it isn't the number of people performing that quantify that feeling. 

[jazzpiano88]

I just watched the Le Sserafim performance and it looked fine to me.  Audience was on fire singing along and loving it.  

[Anderton]

4 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

I just watched the Le Sserafim performance and it looked fine to me.  Audience was on fire singing along and loving it.  

 

I assume it was of the second performance, not the first one? Or did they show both?

[Bill H.]

To put this in perspective, Le Sserafim were in a side tent and not on the main Coachella stage. The Blur meltdown has been well reported, and they were on the main stage though. Other main stage artists who have been making the headlines this time around have been the No Doubt reunion (with Olivia Rodrigo - the #1 story that I've seen), Billis Eilish popping up onstage with Lana Del Rey, Will Smith doing the same with J Balvin, Lauryn Hill doing the same with Bob Marley's grandson, Peso Pluma's set which included a bunch of current Latin artists...

 

In other words about what you would expect for a big music festival today. 

 

I have family in Japan and visit Tokyo frequently. Social media with kids and teens over there is brutal, is something that is a big concern - maybe even worse than here in the States.

 

Then on another level there's these teen pop groups. They're huge for a hot minute. Their images are all over Tokyo... in the train and subway stations, on huge LED signs in Shibuya and Shinjuku, even on trucks that are just driving around doing nothing except promoting their next release or concert or something. 

 

And then they're replaced. It's got to be devastating for those kids. 

[ProfD]

19 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

I truly can't imagine going to Coachella and hanging out for the weekend to hear live music.

The target audience for those music festivals is probably concert-goers <40-years-old.   

19 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

I just head down to one of our local clubs and listen to local music. 

On 4/22/2024 at 1:03 PM, Anderton said:

I think those who have mentioned that local clubs and small-to-moderate size audiences are the future may be right. I have no desire to catch a stadium or arena show, or got to a festival.

Live music in local venues becomes more attractive especially as music listeners get older, er, more mature.😁😎

[David Emm]

Some of the best concert moments I've experienced involved the band creatively recovering from gear blowouts or stage decorations that fell over, sometimes ONTO someone. Grace on the high-wire when the wind becomes gusty can be a real value-added moment for the fans. There was once a brownout that stopped the show for a few, so I played "Ride of the Valkyries" on a duck call. People enjoyed it more & more as my WIND began to give out. 

 

The power returned and the Korg bounced back such that I ended my duck call solo with a huge pipe organ flourish. TA-DAAA! An unplanned crowd pleaser!

[jazzpiano88]

6 hours ago, Anderton said:

10 hours ago, jazzpiano88 said:

I just watched the Le Sserafim performance and it looked fine to me.  Audience was on fire singing along and loving it.  

I assume it was of the second performance, not the first one? Or did they show both?

 

No Clue.   My axiom -- given that people attending are not people qualified to judge anything, I doubt it matters.

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, jazzpiano88 said:

No Clue.   My axiom -- given that people attending are not people qualified to judge anything, I doubt it matters.

I profoundly disagree. Even people who will never play a musical instrument or sing still judge music based on whether they like it or not and they are 100% accurate in that judgement. They may love the music they hear, they may hate it or they may simply not give one crap about it at all. Indifference is a judgement as well. 

 

The fact is that if everybody disliked a particular musician's music, that musician has failed completely to engage the audience. It's really simple but really real. 

[jazzpiano88]

18 minutes ago, KuruPrionz said:

Even people who will never play a musical instrument or sing still judge music based on whether they like it or not and they are 100% accurate in that judgement. They may love the music they hear, they may hate it or they may simply not give one crap about it at all. Indifference is a judgement as well. 

 

The fact is that if everybody disliked a particular musician's music, that musician has failed completely to engage the audience. It's really simple but really real. 

 

I agree with your first paragraph.   It's the Coachella herd that I'm not drinking their water. 

[Dr Mike Metlay]

FWIW the head tech on Grimes' crew posted a long letter to X in which he explained the precise list of mistakes that led to her set blowing up, including errors that should have been caught had certain corners not been cut at critical moments during the runup to getting her on stage. He and his crew have asked people currently castigating Grimes to hate on him instead, as the blame fell squarely on him and his people, not her. 

 

mike

 

[ProfD]

5 hours ago, Dr Mike Metlay said:

FWIW the head tech on Grimes' crew posted a long letter to X in which he explained the precise list of mistakes.... He and his crew have asked people currently castigating Grimes to hate on him instead, as the blame fell squarely on him and his people, not her. 

Noble of the head tech to take responsibility for the failures.

 

Yet another example, regardless of advanced planning, meetings, rehearsals and soundchecks, etc., Murphy can show up like Waldo. 😁😎

[Bill H.]

In other Coachella oopsies:

 

Kid Cudi jumps off the stage and breaks his foot - thereby proving the old axiom that you can't do things in your 40s that you could when you were a kid.

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/kid-cudi-breaks-foot-coachella-1235878860/