Your Ideal Music Listening Experience - Club, Gig or Bedroom?

Definitely live. I'm very interested in how a performer chooses to present their music. As far as bands go, a lot can be gleaned about their music by how they present it, like the difference between a band that starts their songs with a count off, or whether it starts with the rhythm section establishing a groove which then falls into the song. What part of their music do they think is the most telling? Which songs did they think would work best live? How are they different? Who's in control? Are they looking to the singer or the guitarist when for the cues? Do they play around with a chord progression and see where it goes, or are they trying to keep the energy up and everyone dancing until the next breakdown?

I worry I keep music in my head too much, so I keep an eye on how a crowd reacts. I know what I'm getting from something but what is everyone else hearing? What are they getting out of it? Of course, for some it's nothing much to do with the music. But I like how for some people it's sitting politely on the floor for an indie act, and others slam dancing to hardcore and those unique reactions, like whatever that ridiculous thing people in three quarter length pants do when Madness plays or the triangle for Jay-z. What is it about a certain pop act that connects to people that don't treat music as cultural capital? How, say, are older acts like U2 or Madonna going to decide to repackage their catalog to present as an hour of entertainment, and for which generation?

And a bunch of it is about context and certain acts flourish in different contexts. I'd never sit down and listen to a Two Door Cinema Club album but seeing them at a festival, you can kinda see the appeal of spending forty minutes on a sunny Saturday afternoon listening to songs that feel easy and sound much the same. Some acts have the one beaten down amp and a shitty guitar they're making the best out of and some like Miike Snow has the most expensive gear on the planet and no idea what to do with it. As far as DJs go, I love listening to when they are playing around just for themselves when nobody is there at the start of the night and at the end of a long one, and how they choose which songs will talk to each other. Plus, dancing feels pretty essential.

The absolute worst way to listen to music is when you find yourself in one of those common people type impoverished hipster share houses where nobody seems to own anything except expensive apple laptops and an internet connection and all they do is sit there play clips off youtube.

It totally depends... on lots of factors. Voted 'other'.

I think DC is perhaps touching on what one of my problems with the whole live thing is.

That I perhaps burned out on seeing too many artists live, to the point where it stopped being special. Now that I see a gig maybe once a month instead of 3 in one week, it's a lot easier to savour the ones that I do see. Because living in London, it's so easy to get burned out on live music. There's just too much of it.

And when the stars align, and it's the perfect combination of amazing performers and perfect venue and perfect companions, a gig can be the most transcendent and amazing experience. But most of the time, those things don't align, and it's really quite ordinary. And listening to an album is just a far more reliable experience for producing happiness, though it will never quite reach the heights that a really good gig will get to, most gigs are not really good.

I know that all seems super-duh basic now I've typed it out.

Still OTM though.

I think my "avg" back in the day was once a month, although I did manage about 3pm for a while.

When I first moved to London, I would sometimes go to 2 or 3 gigs in a night. And do that all weekend. It was nuts. It wasn't as if there weren't gigs in NYC, but London was just on another level for live music availability.

Yeah, that's Ldn 4u. Being Rdg based, 3gpn would mean you visiting all the live venues in Rdg, then going to a mates house for a bedroom gig as well...

Try Exeter...

I'm having to do a 180-mile round trip to see Orbital. Petrol on top of £28 for a ticket.

Petrol? They still goin?

And listening to an album is just a far more reliable experience for producing happiness, though it will never quite reach the heights that a really good gig will get to, most gigs are not really good

I would agree with this I reckon. It's largely down to the performers but also things like venue and crowd and so forth. On the flipside I would take going to a classical music concert over listening to the same music on record any day of the week.

a lot of the negatives about the live experience are because you can't really relax and sink into the music because ~practicalities~ keep intruding - at classical concerts there's usually some relaxing comfort guaranteed

I guess (classical aside) it's like watching a DVD vs goign to the cinema; you can pause it to nip to the loo, the Ben & Jerry's is cheaper, there's no talking teenagers behind you, and so on and so forth.

Dunno about the talking teenagers, but yeah.

Yes, this is the thing, at classical music concerts, lots of precautions are taken to ensure that the faff-factor is reduced so that you are sitting in a semi-comfortable chair without idiots spilling beer on you, so you can enjoy the physical sensation of the music.

But classical music really is one of those things where the live physical presence of the instruments really counts for a lot. Because if you listen to classical music in a car or on an iPhone on the bus, you get, like, LOUD BITS and then you get engine noise where there should be dynamics.

the thing that bothers me most about gigs is actually where to put your bag and coat. cloakroom = massive faff, overpriced, huge queue at the end. lugging them around with you = constantly have to think about them

big up seated venues

that's not even me being old or whatever cuz i felt exactly the same way when i was 19

Likewise. It's like the logistics of live pop/rock/dance etcetera music just aren't thought out to make them at all pleasurable.

Re: classical music, cars, iPhones etc etc, this is why I'm into big fancy stereos - it gets the closest to giving the scale, physicality, immersion, detail, dynamics and soon and so forth of live music.

Plus recorded music, replayed so that certain elements sound "real", is just absolutely fucking crazy psychedelic. It's like magic. I love it.

clubs are different - i mean, clubs can be unpleasant logistically too as well but if it's a good night, sinking into the music and rising above everything around you is absolutely possible

sometimes you might even think you're on a tropical island

ruh-roh it's high-end consumer equipment time

*departs*

Sometimes you're on a club, on a boat! Listening to Matt DC on a boat music!

Actually, scrap it all. My ideal listening environment is on a yacht, in the Mediterranean.

Ha, unexpectedly listening to "Sandinista"

(memories...)

I'd just like to say that I HATE HATE HATE seated gigs. So stifling, so inflexible. I mean, if anything's like 'going to the cinema' about a gig, it's a seated gig. And really, if what you want is the sitting down and good quality of audio thing, maybe gigs just aren't for you? And that's all cool, you know. Just don't whine about it.

I mean, I'm probably going to vote for private-space listening in the end, and I really do love gigs. I just think that if I was only allowed to keep one method of listening, and all others would be exploded, that's the one I would *need* to keep, rather than just like to.

Am I allowed to "whine" about it, if I have back problems and standing on hard concrete for 3 or 4 hours is actually incredibly painful? I'd like to experience a pleasant experience like music without worrying that I'll be flat on my back in agony for the next day, you know.

Not to mention anxiety issues with regards to crowds, and people in my personal space which interfere with my ability to enjoy music at all, where I've had to leave gigs I've paid for and was expecting to enjoy because a venue oversold the event. When I have a seat allocation, and an allotted slot where I have the right to unmolested enjoyment of the event, that alleviates many issues which can completely destroy any chance of getting pleasure from an event - or indeed, even surviving the entire event without having to leave in a state of agitation and psychological distress.

It's really nice for you, that you're able to enjoy cattle hall venues - but if you're going to disparage the things that enable me to be able to *tolerate* an event " then that does not predispose me to your point of view.

What I'm saying is not that there aren't problems with going to gigs, but that if you can't enjoy them, then maybe you should just accept that they aren't things that you enjoy. Let it slide.

I enjoy going to gigs. But I enjoy going to seated gigs. I don't appreciate your telling me that I have no right to enjoy gigs in a tolerable environment because you find it "stifling and inflexible," maaaaaaan.

Maybe you should just accept that seated gigs are not for you, and not try to tell other people what they should have access to.

Different kinds of music call for different kinds of live experiences. We saw Lambchop at a seated venue and it was great. We saw Patrick Wolf at a big seated gig and it was a bit stiffling initially but then he did a fast song, EVERYBODY stood up and moved to the front, he responded by playing more fast songs that he hadn't planned, and it was bloody amazing. We'd seen him at a little seated venue years before and it had been intimate and entrancing and magical.

I think it depends on the act, I'd never go and see a dance act or a punk band at a venue if I had to sit, but if I was going to see, I dunno, Low or someone, what extra enjoyment are you going to get out of the gig if you're standing?

Maybe you should just accept that seated gigs are not for you, and not try to tell other people what they should have access to.

Except I didn't do this. I was responding to the tone of the conversation which was 'gigs are horrible, they should all be like classical music concerts'. I didn't say you can't go to seated gigs, I said that I hate them. And that if things like seating are your primary concerns, perhaps you don't really dig the things that make gigs gigs. And that instead of going 'gigs are horrible, they should all be like classical music concerts' you should just be cool with the fact that you don't really like gigs. But this is ilx, of course, you don't get to ask anybody to be cool with anything, and as soon as you do you get jumped on and treated like an asshole. Woo.

And really, if you don't want to be jumped on and treated like an asshole for something innocuous, maybe ILX just isn't for you? And that's all cool, you know. Just don't whine about it.

Well, certainly this thread isn't for me. I do always wonder why people who think ilx is a horrible place where people should be allowed to be awful to each other stick around, though. Because I don't think of it like that at all.

Wow, OK, your reading of what you think has happened in this thread is so different so what I think just happened in this thread that I don't think we're even posting on the same board.

I have no doubt that my enjoyment of gigs is closely related to being 6'3" and always being able to see. I often wonder what anyone under, say, 5'10" gets out of being at a standing-only gig.

strong calf muscles from constantly having to tiptoe :(

if it's music i want to dance to, standing gigs are fine, but even then my buzz will usually be harshed a little by the utter weirdos whose reaction to, say, grace jones is to stand STOCK STILL, and to glare at anyone with the temerity to move their bodies to disco beats

I've spent the last, like, 2 or 3 years going to gigs where I try to find a perch, high up, where I can sit down and watch from afar. But it's probably because since getting old, my reaction to music that moves me is to draw, rather than to dance.

Dancing is something that I really miss in my life, but it unfortunately went when I stopped drinking at gigs/clubs.

Dancing went when I started getting knee problems.

i'm with emily, not a fan of seated gigs. you're supposed to jump and dance and get stepped on and feel like shit and want to pay $4 for a bottle of water afterwards. if you have a problem with that, maybe being alive on this Earth isn't for you.

With some music I think the setting will never be achieved. It's gonna be a while till I get to listen to dub reggae playing on a beat up soundsystem in the middle of a Jamaican blues party. Similarly, I'll never get to become a white hot ball of mercury and go zinging around a futuristic neon city while listening to Orbital. I just have to imagine it.

you have to sustain your attention for an hour and a half or whatever

i dont have a problem with that - its more that it abruptly starts at a particular time and abruptly ends at a particular time and there is nothing before or after - i can easily lose self in music in a club for longer stretches than that, its more that i like the idea of music just being kind of continuous and just kind of coming in and out as and when

― coal, Monday, 16 April 2012 15:21 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm gonna bang on about the smoking ban again... I think since smoking became an outdoor pursuit, it's harder for performances to keep audiences completely rapt as those with itchy feet will start looking at the door as people go in and out.

as a non-driver I'm starting to wonder what I'm missing out on by not driving around listening to music.

I saw Madness at a seated gig. Suggs thanked the three people who'd managed to stay sat down and not pushed their way to the front.

the smoking ban is the single greatest piece of english legislation of the past decade

It should have gone further.

The is no right or wrong way to listen, of course, there's just a multitude of pragmatic best ways "right now" which depend on infinite circumstances.

I find most gigs either a bit boring or annoying. Boring because I'd rather be listening to music at home because the act can't really pull it off live or the live experience doesn't really add anything. Annoying because there are annoying people there who either talk incessantly or get in the way. I tend to give up and hang near the bar, which is easier to do if it's not seated.

In a club you can find your own space and dance providing the layout and sound system is adequate. I'm not sure if I'm 'experiencing' the music rather than listening to it in a club though.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

the only answer i can give is that it depends. the live experience of loud, viscerally intense, physically produced music can't be completely captured in a recording, and for some artists it's the entire point. this is especially true when the primary appeal of the music is physical and even brutal, as with metal and punk, spazzy weirdo stuff, noise rock, etc. studio recordings of certain artists or styles can be quite tiresome to listen to, even when the live show is thrilling. context is everything.

if i'm listening in a private space, my choice of album vs mixtape will depend, again, on context. if i want "background music" while my attention is on something else, then a mixtape, radio show, varied playlist or randomizer might be preferable. if i'm listening closely as my primary activity, then i'm slightly more likely to prefer an album or single-artist collection.

i don't go to dance clubs, so i can't really comment on that.

So many options that could be included:

Headphones while working out
Headphones while commuting
Carrying boombox on shoulder
Portable speakers on backpack/bike/motorcycle
Headphones at work
Speakers at work
Headphones at home
Live outdoor concert/festival
Live at small club (< 500 capacity)
Live medium club (> 500 to 1,000 capacity)
Live at large club (> 1,000 capacity)
Live at super large venue/stadium/arena (> 10,000 capacity)

Carrying boombox on shoulder

^only way i listen to music

*boombox option can include walking, rollerblading, rollerblading wearing nothing but thong. Yes, I have seen it. I cannot unsee it.

Ned, were you hanging out with yr box on Chicago's lakefront last summer? ;)

Railway station buskers
Through the wall from the next apartment
Supermarket PA system
In my head
Personally singing and/or playing an instrument
In church
In the style of the Romans

I'm not Ned but I do go rollerblading in my thong sometimes, yes.

Missed this. Car--not even close.