HW Space Ritual

[Paul Mather]

On 19 Dec 2008, at 4:23 AM, Ian Abrahams wrote:

> Bernhard,
>
> Honestly, I think you've really missed the point here... a live gig  
> is a live gig, it's for the people who turn up and enjoy the event -  
> which I know people who attended did enjoy... so that's the context  
> of the show and it was a fantastic event and, really, 'end of  
> story'. Great to get a show to listen to afterwards but that's  
> always out of context.
>
> It wasn't 'crap'... it just wasn't... sorry!
>
> You say it didn't work for you and other people... you weren't  
> there! It wasn't assembled to be picked over on a bootleg, it was  
> put on for people to go and get a buzz from on the day... please,  
> context, always context!  :)

I agree!  The canonical example of this, for me, is "Wild Thing" from  
the _Jimi Plays Monterey_ album.  The latter part of the song is  
pretty boring to listen to on disc (where Mitch and Noel are raging  
away creating a wild cacophony and Jimi is physically abusing his  
guitar) but it's probably one of the iconic moments in live rock  
history and must have been an absolute blinder for those who were in  
attendance.  It's a perfect example of a stellar gig that doesn't  
translate over to the audio document.

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
  deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
         --- Frank Vincent Zappa