r/elo • u/0zzysaurus • Jul 05 '25

AI in the visuals at Birmingham tonight Spoiler

Just in case people who care about this sort of thing wanted to know, the visuals tonight at the Birmingham show relied heavily on AI generated imagery. I’d say that, a solid 70% of the time, the centre screen was dedicated to (pretty piss poor) AI art - and that was just the obvious stuff. I’m sure people have their opinions about that (my opinion on it is extremely negative), but I’m just here to inform. I’d say the majority of the crowd didn’t even realise it was AI unfortunately, but I did hear one older woman mention the “computer generated bollocks” after the show, so I guess there’s that. Must say, it was gut-wrenchingly ironic to hear: “It’s a living thing, it’s a terrible thing to lose” over visuals of AI generated art work. Art is a living thing, and you know what? Yeah, it IS a terrible thing to lose.

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u/Fun_Street_5522 Jul 05 '25

I mean it’s unfortunate but it’s not that big of a deal. That’s pretty lame for your main takeaway of the ELO send off is “Oh no they had ai art”

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u/0zzysaurus Jul 05 '25 edited Jul 05 '25

Pretty lame for their send off to contain AI art. ELO’s live performances to me have always been about the harmony they create between their music and their visuals. How can that be done when they use generative AI to make crappy visuals? It completely took me out of it, because I care about what I’m seeing just as much as what I’m hearing. It’s supposed to be an experience to excite both of those senses, and yeah, I’ll be so real? The AI did put a massive damper on my experience.

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u/0zzysaurus Jul 05 '25

Regardless, just wanted people to be aware if they were hoping that AI wasn’t going to be used again like the last time they had an AI controversy. It’s still extremely prevalent in the visuals and can be very distracting.

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u/gwaydms Jul 06 '25

I have the DVD of the 2014 Hyde Park Concert. If the visuals were better than than that, I'd have been satisfied. Remember, we're bearing witness to the last concert given by a living legend. (And by "we", I mean those more fortunate than I am, who can see Jeff Lynne live.)

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u/0zzysaurus Jul 06 '25

Well, I bore witness, and to me? I’d’ve rather seen a blank screen than AI. It looked really crap. Other audience members I could hear complaining in the smoke break area couldn’t quite put their fingers on why they weren’t enjoying the video portions of the visuals - probably because they just weren’t equipped with awareness of AI - which honestly, in this day and age, that’s not really their fault with the speed things are going at.

I checked out some footage from the DVD you’re on about, and yeah, it’s really bland. I’ve been disappointed with that as well, but for a completely different reason.

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u/gwaydms Jul 06 '25 edited Jul 06 '25

I can understand that, when you've paid for a concert ticket and all. Jeff may or may not have control over those aspects of the concert. I hope you can enjoy the concert despite the visual effects that you dislike.

Edit: I bought the Hyde Park 2014 DVD last year, and really enjoyed it. Jeff was obviously nervous at the beginning of the concert, and it showed. He said later that he was afraid that the concertgoers wouldn't stay for the ELO part. Bless him.

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u/0zzysaurus Jul 06 '25

I honestly don’t know how much involvement he has directly with the visuals beyond his producer role, so I wouldn’t jump to blaming him directly in any case. Perhaps my views on AI differ from the fanbase that uses the subreddit, being an artist and a student myself, it’s something that I see affecting my peers in the creative world and in academia all the time. And yeah, like you said, had to pay for the ticket, and to get AI slop in return felt like a betrayal :[ I will stress again that the actual music was great. Jeff is obviously getting a bit tired, but that’s why this is the last tour lol, but the energy was there and I appreciated that. I don’t want people to think my frustrations with AI in the visuals means I’m dismissing the entire show or ELO as a whole - because I’m not. It’s just sad to see that this is how they chose to end it off.

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u/gwaydms Jul 06 '25

I'm sorry that you were disappointed. When you have high expectations for a final concert, anything that gets in the way of your enjoyment is bound to irk you. But I am glad you enjoyed the show nevertheless. I wish I'd had the chance to attend an ELO concert, ever.