So last night I went to see Cat Power and despite her voice being amazing, she did not bring the energy or the attitude nor did she really put on any kind of show. Other than slinking around like a zombie straight out of Michael Jackson's Thriller video, she spent a fair amount of the show with her back to us, which I've never really seen a performer do. She kept the audience waiting while she started the show considerably later than expected, then walked off after about 25 minutes of performing, and kept apologizing silently... it was so bizarre. Also, she never once talked to the audience. She got up there sang, walked off, came back and sang some more and then just walked off again. I don't think I've ever been to a show were the audience was never directly addressed by the performer even once. So that was a huge disappointment and it made me think of this debate I've been seeing off and on since the Inauguration about pre-recorded music used for "live" performances.
All the music played at President Obama's Inauguration was pre-recorded as the orchestra did not feel comfortable with the possibilities of any slips. While that is understandable because of the magnitude of the event, it's also kind of disappointing to me, because when you're talking about some of the most celebrated and talented musicians, it's crazy to think that even they don't want to trust their own skills in a public forum.
Jennifer Hudson lip-synched to the National Anthem at the Super Bowl this year as it was her first public appearance since the murder of her family members. One can only assume that her people wanted the performance and subsequent publicity to only be positive, taking the risk out that her voice could waver probably made everyone feel better.
Recently, Jessica Simpson has had some rocky live concerts that have been adding fuel to the fire of her tanking career and public persona. The latest, which is rooted in her miss at a Michigan concert, is that Tony Romo has dumped her. No word yet on if it's related to her recent "weight gain." Negative publicity likes this most likely pushes some artists to rely on back-up tracks and pre-recorded music.
So relating this back to the concert I saw, even though it sucked that Cat Power was not feeling it last night, I think I'd rather see and listen to the actual song, voice, performance, and music, than have a perfected studio-enhanced version of a song or songs.
If this is where the music industry is heading, I think it will take away from the artists and demand a level of perfection that is just setting up people for disaster, but then again, pre-recording tracks is doing exactly that, taking out all risk that a mistake can happen, unless you are as unfortunate as Ashlee Simpson was a few years back.
http://www.tmz.com/category/jessica-simpson/
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