SHE WANTS YOUR LOVE, YOUR REVENGE, AND YOUR PREMIUM CABLE SUBSCRIPTION FEES: Following in the footsteps of Britney, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, and others,
Lady Gaga will get her own concert special on HBO in May. I'll watch, even though there's no way you'd get me to go to MSG for the show.
You left out the Garth Brooks concert in Central Park which i attended. I can't believe there's no Wiki page (or anything else online) listing all HBO concerts.<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything against Lady Gaga (except that I will say again that she is just Laura Branigan in a Halloween costume that has successfully fooled everybody into thinking she is not Laura Branigan; not knocking either Gaga or Branigan by saying that, though I'll bet a lot of Gaga fans would be surprised to find out that they love Laura Branigan). Ever since about 1982, though, I don't really get the idea of a televised concert event. The chief benefits of being at a concert are the ability to tap into the hive mind of an audience comprised entirely of fans, the fiction of sharing something with the artist, and the overall immersive experience. Beyond that, very few artists (some, but very few) give you something significantly musically better than what you already have, and most actually give you something worse, given poor sound, the effects of touring (or dancing) on vocals, and malaise from the constant re-playing of the same songs. The staging of huge concerts can be impressive in person but look silly on the small screen, and it's never as impressive as what you can whip up in a studio for a video.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note to isaac's comment, what are folks' thoughts on showing live events on your local movie screen? They've been advertising opera at the local Cinemax. I wouldn't try it out for opera, but if they broadcast a broadway play, I'd be inclined to go.
ReplyDeleteI've heard good things about the Met broadcasts, not that I have a huge interest (and I have the Lyric of Chicago for such things), but if someone did this for Broadway events I'd be there in a second.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it might be really cool (as a novelty, anyway) if they could do it in 3D. I realize that that presents tremendous artistic, technical, and logistic differences (given how 3D is made), and I don't even know if it's possible. But it would be a way of bridging the gap between something like the larger-than-life spectacle of Lion King/Ring Cycle/Nutcracker in person and the relatively static, unimpressive experience of seeing those things on the small screen.
ReplyDeleteI have several friends who are big fans of the Met broadcasts for two reasons:
ReplyDelete1. Price--even at the highish prices charged for live events, it's a lot cheaper than the Opera.
2. You can actually see facial expressions and acting rather than just hear things.
Apparently, at least in NYC, there's some dispute about appropriate conduct at the movie theatre events--do you dress/act like you're at the opera, or is movie dress/conduct appropriate? In particular, drinks and popcorn are apparently hotly disputed.
Like any filmed event, the operas are only as good as the director. I've liked a couple over the years. As to concert films (which I see for review not for affinity): didn't much like the Miley Cyrus or Jonas Bros flicks, but the Bieber one was OK
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