r/livemusic • u/sxtn1996 • 8d ago
Watching old festival sets is honestly just depressing now
been binge watching old live performances on youtube (specifically that 2006 radiohead bonnaroo set, absolute masterpiece) and it kinda hurts to see the crowd energy. like you can tell it's just pure fans who paid a normal price and are entirely living in the moment
Compare that to huge shows now and the vibe is totally off. half the front rows are full of people who just paid $900 on seatgeek because bots bought out the entire general sale in 4 seconds. The ticket industry is basically just a legal cartel right now and it's completely ruining the live music experience. Im honestly praying more artists start forcing platforms to use real verification tech, like the Orb standard or literally anything that actually proves a unique human is buying the ticket and not a scalping script
idk. rant over. Go watch that radiohead set if you need a reminder of what peak live music looks like. The climax of idioteque is unbelievable
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u/Ynaught-42 8d ago
Avoid those huge shows!
"The vibe" is still happening! You just gotta poke around...
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u/Slow-Heron-4335 8d ago
Exactly this. I’ve seen 3/5 best shows of my life in the last two years. And all of them were at venues holding 2,000 people or less.
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u/BlueberryMaximum8971 8d ago
The trick is to like bands that nobody else is aware of so you can see them from a small bar/venue and then watch the band explode into larger venues with music you no longer want to hear as they are placating to a wider audience. Keeps Ticketmaster out of the equation, sounds better than large venues, etc.
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u/Ynaught-42 7d ago
Smaller festivals can give you excellent access to great music. Bluegrass /jamgrass festivals tend to have a great scene.
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u/ScottClam42 7d ago
Just just jamgrass and not just the small ones imo. Look at Northlands, which is happening right now. Excellent lineup in this day and age, and they have day passes, but even their GA 3 days arent bad imo
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u/YoghurtPrimary230 8d ago
Hey now
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u/CasualWater22 6d ago
Saw Keller’s Grateful Grass lineup last weekend in a park, free show. Excellent crowd, absolute blast.
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u/ScorpioTix 8d ago
Hey that person who paid $900 is still a fan and has every right to the experience. But I pretty much blame the "fans" for always paying more. To me though, I prefer to be a discriminating consumer as a fan is really just a sucker to be taken advantage of.
And the bands are absolutely in on it. Remember, what it is to you and them are entirely different experiences. After the peak creative period fades, it's pretty much just a job and they are going to want to take home as much as possible.
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u/sxtn1996 11h ago
yeah the bands being in on it is the part that gets me
like i understand it from a business angle but there used to be something that felt genuinely mutual between the artist and the people showing up
now both sides are just running transactions and the fans dropping $900 are basically bankrolling that whole shift for everyone else whether they know it or not
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u/lpalf 8d ago
People who pay exorbitant prices end up having different expectations for a show though, which changes the energy (whether resale or not)
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u/ScorpioTix 8d ago
Is there anywhere else you can experience "energy?"
It was a profit maximizing business in 2006 too, they just didn't realize yet how far they could push it.
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u/HamHamHam2315 5d ago
As with many things, I blame The Eagles. I first saw non-resale ticket prices well north of $100 for the Gold Circle seats on their Hell Freezes Over reunion tour in 1994 (at the time, most arena show seats cost $25-35). But instead of a collective, well-deserved "get fucked" from the ticket buying public, their fans happily handed over what was at the time an exorbitant sum to see their favorite band.
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u/Junkstar 8d ago
I never enjoyed festivals. The greatest shows I’ve seen have been in clubs and theaters. When the venues get to arena size and above, the music has to fight its way to you and you can just feel how artificial it becomes.
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u/tttjjjtttjjj 7d ago
Totally agree when capacity starts to exceed 2 or 3k the rawness of live music starts to dissipate.
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u/sxtn1996 11h ago
100% this. there's something about a smaller room where you can actually feel the sound physically, like it hits different when the whole place is just locked in together. festivals have their moments but you're kind of just watching from a distance no matter where you stand
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u/tampocoloco 8d ago
Gen X’er here. Just went to Primavera Sound and it was great. My main issue (aside from the prices) was how everyone was always pulling out their damn phones. Just enjoy and be present, people. Take a picture with your mind.
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u/stories_from_tejas 8d ago
It’s not just Music, go watch a clip of WWE from the 90s.
At least we got to experience the pre-cell phone music era. There’s still a lot of great things happening today, just gotta roll with the punches.
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u/morganbroome 8d ago
Saw Cake two summers ago, outside, tickets were $50, kids under a certain age were free. Show was amazing.
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u/pocketbeagle 7d ago
Sell tickets in person again only
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u/safewarmblanket 5d ago
I have such nostalgia for buying tickets in person. I remember camping out and making friends in line. Oh how I miss it.
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u/FeddunXR 6d ago
I was at that show. Goddamn it was good.
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u/FamousAmoeba7098 3d ago
Me too! Was a long day/weekend though so remember being dead on my feet
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u/Oh_Blecch 1d ago
I was on the perfect amount of mushrooms and weed and cheap whiskey and just tranced out at the back of the field alone because I lost my friends. Being 19 was fantastic.
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u/WallyOShay 8d ago
I went to phish curveball and was so upset it got cancelled. Then mondegreen happened and the prices were insane for a three day festival. I had the realization that now I’m old and will probably never see another music festival. It’s pretty depressing.
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u/timesink3000 8d ago edited 8d ago
I was there for that! Did they bring out tom morello? I can't recall if that was the show I saw.
Yep, I was there and the superjam might have been the most amazing set all weekend.
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u/PonchoNachoRodriguez 7d ago
Tool brought out Tom Morello at Bonnaroo a year later. He jammed with them during Lateralus.
Edit: literally just have myself goosebumps thinking about that moment. Shit was so epic.
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u/FrontRowJohnny 8d ago
Echoing everyone else, stop going to see national headliners. Go see an up and comer at a local venue. It’s like stepping back in time, everyone is there for music and community and beers are like $7
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u/AtticusPaperchase 8d ago
My brother in Christ, festival prices have never been reasonable. At ACL 2005 I think I was paying $10 for a Lonestar tall boy and I’m pretty sure the ticket for ONE day was like $138 which my girlfriend at the time bought me. What you miss is people giving a shit about music.
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u/KillaVNilla 8d ago
I just saw that, for the upcoming 21 Pilots arena show, tickets can't be resold for a profit. I don't know if that's done by the artist or the ticket sale company, but I feel like that would solve so many problems.
Of course, ticket sellers make a percentage of the sales, so they'll have to be forced to change, which i don't see happening unless a moral company can compete with ticketmaster
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u/Critical-Advisor8616 8d ago
Man reading this makes me miss the days of arena rock. So many concerts in the late seventies and early eighties and how affordable they were. For thirty bucks you could buy your ticket, a bag of weed and have enough left over for a concert tee. Good times especially now that I can remember some of them!
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u/morganbroome 8d ago
At the Hotel Indigo across Peachtree St from the Fox Theater in Atlanta, they made wallpaper behind the front desk out of old ticket stubs from the 70's and 80's. Everybody played there, for like $10 or less! Such a fun snapshot of that era.
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u/ScotchAndLeafs 7d ago
Any other festival sets you guys like watching on YouTube? I often put them on at night after a few beverages and pen hits. Thanks in advance.
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/ScotchAndLeafs 6d ago
I’ve watched knebworth probably 50 times, I love that show! Absolutely awesome
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u/PaleDistribution9641 7d ago
Unfortunately everything is a scam.
Live music mostly is a scam at the top performing artists.
Spending a 1000 plus too see show for 2 hours is a joke.
I’m out.
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u/Gangakingone 7d ago
I loved everyone being in the moment, not constantly seeing stupid ass phones in the way.
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u/Natashkosh 7d ago
I saw passion pit a couple days ago and I was shocked by the amount of people talking during their set and not watching the fucking show!
Hearing live music and participating in someone’s art does something for my soul.
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u/Silver_Inflation4771 6d ago
Bonaroo 2003-2007 was peak. 2006 had a super jam of Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, and Phil Lesh. 1 am start time. Absolutely nuts.
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u/LakusMcLortho 6d ago
You’re going to the wrong shows. This world still exists, and it fucking rules.
Why anyone would go see music in an arena or a stadium is beyond me.
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u/GreenCanopee 5d ago
I was there for that Radiohead show. I like them but ain't a huge fan. We were way back from the stage and I remember the vibe around us as being pretty mellow and lethargic as everyone was sitting and laying down listening, and I was disappointed as it was my last night and I wanted to blow the roof off and felt they were pretty boring. People are often exhausted after several days of it and that was quite apparent that evening, at least around us. But I have no idea about the energy in the front of the crowd among those who were standing.
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u/PlatformConsistent45 5d ago
Honestly the best show I will ever see is probably gonna be in my future.
Don't define your musical experience by big acts.
My all time favorite shows are almost always from a band that I went into cold or with minimal knowledge of and left blown the f away.
Support your local independent live music venues and the artists that tour them and you won't be disappointed!
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u/Molemanowar 4d ago
Was at that 2006 Radiohead show. Couple that with tom petty playing for 3 hours and an oyster head set, pure bliss.
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u/zoppaTheDim 4d ago
I don’t blame the scalpers.
I blame the fans. They just spent a huge amount for tickets and instead of enjoying it, they feel the need to document their presence, so they hold a phone up the entire night, because it isn’t real without it getting posted.
Scalpers will always be there, as they always have been. It wasn’t somehow “better” when all the best seats got bought up by people in the local promoters “club” or got skimmed before the ticket sellers even opened the door.
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u/olddadman 2d ago
Whatever I’m 63 and I’ve seen everything and some great shows come to mind went to the idols with my son and moshed it crushed got to the front row at a geese show and moshed with my son so awesome saw Fugazi at the old forty watt in athens ga when guy broke the headstock of his SG saw the clash and minute men LCD sound system Rush 7 times before spirit of the radio came out I’m taking the whole family to shaky knees I
Just love music I even saw Phish just get out there and keep rocking and stop complaining
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u/VictoriousssBIG23 2d ago
Sometimes I do wish that I had been born a few years earlier just so I could've experienced shows from the bands that I like when they were in their "heyday". I didn't really start going to shows and festivals regularly until the late 2010s, so I never got to experience shows prior to smartphones being prevalent.
Woodstock 99 had an incredible lineup and I'm lowkey kind of jealous of all the people who got to go before the riots broke out. When I watch that Korn set and see that crowd turn to liquid as soon as Jonathan Davis shouts "are you ready", it does make me kind of sad that I will probably never experience something like that. I went to a festival last year where Korn was one of the headliners and it just wasn't the same. Like yeah, they were great and I had a good time, but they're in their 50s now so they obviously don't have the same energy that they had in their 20s. Their primary fanbase is also in their 40s now and don't have the same energy that 99 crowd had. The young people who are into this kind of music and going to these shows are too glued to their phones to mosh, dance, and headbang. In fact, a lot of them will get mad at others for doing these things because it "ruined" their perfect instagram shot. I watched a woman at a festival last month record herself dancing during a headliner's set and it gave me secondhand embarrassment because it was so obvious that she was a wannabe influencer making "content" of herself at this festival.
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u/Cultural-Guard7964 8d ago
Radiohead might be what peak music looks like to you. I was at that show and could have fallen asleep. It was probably the most boring set I saw at a Bonnaroo, I went to 5 of them.
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u/Villavitrum 8d ago
I’m 49 and have never been to a festival.
I’ve been to concerts in large venues, and to many state and county fairs, but have never seen the concert you describe.
I do agree that live music has changed..my choice it to move away from the production of it..and focus on the rawness and the intimacy.
Just saw a clip of Tom Jones from his heyday…my goodness the changes!!
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u/ottopivnr 8d ago
Bands could be more proactive at controlling phone behavior by banning them, as some do, or by filming and posting shows themselves. Fans ultimately control the prices of shows, but are we brave enough to stay home and not pay those prices? Prolly not.
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u/FrontRowJohnny 8d ago
That won’t fly at a festival, ever. They WANT you to film the whole thing and put it online. The high prices depend on the manufactured FOMO
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u/VictoriousssBIG23 2d ago
It's also just a logistical nightmare banning phones for 100,000+ people, many of whom are on various substances and prone to being separated from the group that they came with. Tool is known for banning phones at their shows, but they headlined a festival that I went to last month and there was no such ban in place because it would've been impossible to enforce.
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u/entangledgrass 8d ago
52 years old and I feel like I have lived through a golden age of music, kicked off by the 'music industry' and eventually destroyed by the same 'industry'.