When a reviewer can't stand the artist he is reviewing, should he:
-Review the crowd's reaction to a performer (e.g. "The enthusiastic crowd could not be contained.")
-Review the performance of the artist's songs, however bad they may be. (e.g. "..brought a spark of life to his humdrum catalog.")
or
-Make sure all of the readers know how much he hates the artist and can't see any value at all in the concert. (And Optionally - make fun of the audience & the performers' stage antics.)
..
What I'm asking here is: isn't reviewing a concert different from reviewing a record? You can pan a record because you hate it. .. but shouldn't a concert review be written with the presumption that you *chose* to go to the show?
(The above in reference to the honorable John Petric. The only piece of writing I can find of his, I cannot argue with: http://www.jazzkc.org/issues/1997-10/coda.html)
― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 18 April 2003 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)
good thread idea. one of my big objections to the NME was that their live reviews were always a review of the "band" rather than a review of the "show". this is unfair, because there is no way, say, stereophonics would get a fair review. there is no way they'd get a thumbs-up, no matter how well they perform on the night.
having said this, enjoyment of the show is always going to be quite dependent on how much you like the songs already. i could go and see a band i hate play their songs magnificently, whip the crowd into a frenzy, and have great between-song banter, but i still wouldn't enjoy it as much as an ok performance by a band whose songs i really love. and it's hard not to want to put your own opinion of the gig into a review you're writing.
i suppose the sensible thing to do would be to make your opinion of the songs being played clear, but then put it to one side, and talk about how the band actually performed on the night.
i.e.
"Stereophonics play bland rock music which turns me off...however, they really got the juice out of their material tonight."
or
"Blur are a great band, so it was great to hear these songs...however, this was a sloppy performance."
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 18 April 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)