Jared of The Black Lips- Jackie Roman/Hell Gate Exclusive- image is copyrighted, not for use without permission

Well I guess these things are cyclical… Doesn’t seem so long ago that the live experience was being held up as the savior of the music bottom line. Now we hear more about the explosion in platforms, great performance figures for internet radio despite Pandora & Rhapsody & artists placing their work in all kinds of original & relentlessly commercial ways… Maybe there is a buck or two in digital….

This article in The Independent yesterday points to some uncomfortable numbers & a few things that have become obvious to the regular gig enthusiast. As the Summer Festival season winds down(don’t forget that Lollapalooza is tomorrow kids and steaming live on Youtube)  thoughts are scattered about like the field on the last night Glastonbury.

I don’t like the idea of super groups touring the world for a year earning money the size of a small nation’s GDP. As a music lover I also don’t like the financial commitment involved in sharing a field with a bunch of pasty hipsters for 2 days constantly worrying about going to the bathroom. These sums can start businesses or get your ass to a Mediterranean beach. The cost of regular gig tickets on any night of the week are also way too prohibitive for these shows not to be events. Events are tied more to the hospitality industry, they don’t intertwine with your life in the way a gig used to.

The Chalet/No to VIP area mentality of the likes of ATP are a breath of fresh air & you just hope the glut of small independent festivals can buck the trend of this article.

I’d say the innovation of the likes of Sixth Man is great as long as some principals hold up – getting fans closer to the point of creativity & closer to the artist. Boats & trips abroad are a few upgrades (so hospitality would say) away from straight up elitist BS at ridiculous prices– a bad marketer/Premier Package nightmare.

Great music should come out of the small venues & the clubs & I’d love to see innovation happening there. Day in day out. Now that’s aspiration I don’t need a brochure for.

To revisit tom foolery on the high seas go to Jackie Roman’s photos of The Bruise Cruise