concerts in SL

I do live performances in SL. As live as possible with 1 person playing. I play guitar & keyboards in real-time with sequenced backing tracks. Which is exactly the same act / performance that I do in RL venues.

But then I'm not a sleb, so there's no mileage in schmoozing up to me.

To continue, let's look at it from the performer's POV:

An RL performance:

1) I have to hire a car / mini-van to get my equipment to the venue.
2) I have to break down the equipment in my studio that I'll need for the performance, pack it up, drive to the venue and reassemble it.
3) Play to an indifferent audience and most likely not get paid.
4) Pack equipment away, drive home and reassemble my equipment in my studio so that I can use it at home.

So let's see: RL gigs = out of pocket, aching back and generally wasted effort.

An SL performance:

1) Take an audio feed off my mixing desk while I play and feed it into a computer running a winamp/oddsock/shoutcast combo.
2) Send encoded audio output out across the internet either directly to the venue / land parcel in SL or indirectly via a relay server.
3) Play to (at worst) an indifferent audience and treat it as a rehearsal. Most times I've been complimented on my work and I get the impression that my audiences in SL genuinely appreciate my musical output. Which is a vast improvement on my RL audiences!

SL gigs = minimal hassle and no financial loss.

So it's a no-brainer really until something better comes along. Sorry if that doesn't suit the audiences, but us musicians are people too. Much as I enjoy playing for people, I didn't become a musician in order to cripple myself heaving around masses of heavy objects in a frantic race against the clock. And I can assure you that having to wire up half my studio rig on a dimly-lit stage and soundcheck it in less that 30 minutes is *not* my idea of fun.

When I was a kid, I remember my grandfather talking to me about radio, and comparing it against television.

While he respected the value of television, he always felt that radio left more to the imagination, and that it was a better medium for storytelling.

To me at the time, this idea seemed completely illogical. I'd grown up with television, and radio seemed not good for much other than music.

I don't think my grandfather was incorrect; rather, he was stuck in the paradigm of his generation.

Possibly being resistant to digital presence is a similar phenomenon to the mindset my grandfather once held.

Great post, Travis. I'm mostly echoing others, but SL's resident musicians definitely lend another layer of enrichment. It's often more akin to a cafe performance or someone playing at a party than a "concert," but that's part of the appeal.

Duran Duran...we'll see how that goes, but it will definitely gain some appeal just from novelty, and four-corners shows (on four sims) can fit a fair crowd. Maybe LL (or whoever's organizing) will even do something larger, with big video screens. Maybe people will even stay home (in SL) and watch on their TVs XD

Rivers Run Red is doing the Duran Duran development project, I believe.

P2

Maybe SL concerts can be good, but the two or three I've been to have pretty much sucked compared to RL club music--not because of the format, but because the musicians themselves sucked.

Some can play okay, but sing like dying asthmatics. Some do okay cover songs but the stuff they actually tried to write is just a bunch of emo shit about every girl that ever dumped them (I would have dumped their whiney ass too if I had been their GF). Some don't seem to be able to do anything at all except mumble and recycle some dance tracks (don't call yourself a musician if you're only a DJ, buddy).

An no musician I've heard in SL seems to have anything important to say or contribute. It's all just dance music, bad love songs, cover songs whose original performer did them much better, and other pop or alternative crap. It's the political/social equivalent of cotton candy. Where are the musicians with the balls to offend, to question, to challenge? It's a waste of SL to just come in here with a song about your damn girlfriend/boyfriend leaving you. NO ONE CARES!!! SAY SOMETHING ORIGINAL OR MEANINGFUL FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!

At this point I'd rather hear a neo-Nazi group sing than another song about some lost love. At least the neo-Nazi group would be DIFFERENT.

-Pall

You should keep this advice in mind before writing counterproductive forum posts.

Pallmor, you must've hit a few dud shows. BTW, what lights your fuse? If you're into prog rock and/or space rock check out my shows. 100% original, 100% live and guaranteed to satisfy. Oh and as for 'balls to offend', I've offended more people in SL than you've had hot suppers. So, ner!

You obviously haven't been to very many live music events in SL. Two of the musicians that Sansa and I absolutely love are Cylindrian Rutabaga and Komuso Tokugawa.

Cylindrian's achingly pure soprano, acoustic guitar, and piano are like a breath of spring compared to most of the streaming audio that you hear in SL.

Komuso is an Aussie living in Japan. I can't do a better job of describing his stuff than my lovely Sansa, who says that he plays "old, gorgeous Delta blues, guitar and harmonica. Sublime music, the kind that makes you believe in angels and demons... I swear this guy has sold his soul, and we are all better for it. If you get a chance in world, go to a Komuso performance, he's f---ing awesome."

P2

It is easier to share a live concert experience with a friend who does not live in your vicinity in SL than in RL.

What a shame you appear to have been to some less than inspiring Live shows in SL. To date there are approx 70+ Live musicians on the circuit who play on a regular basis.
If you are interested in hearing a litle more about each musician as well as hearing them play live, I am running a series of Live informal chats with several Sl musicians. The interviews are running on a weekly basis in the sim Menorca. i thought it would be a great thing for some of us to hear a little bit more about each musician and their thoughts on performing in SL as well as hearing a selection of their music.

Regardless if someone uses a backing track they have written themselves or are perfeorming raw and unplugged makes no difference to the fact that there are some incredibly talented musicians YOU get a chance to hear whilst sitting at your computer. FOR FREE! It is all about interaction with the audience I agree, and I hope the interviews will give a little more insight into each performers views etc.

The next musician lined up for this sunday is Cylindrian Rutabaga...
Look in events for further interviews.
Slim Warrior

In many cases, music in SL is less about "saying something original" or building a cult of personality, and more about playing the party, providing the music and being The Band. It's a support for an experience. It's not going to tickle the Novelty synapses so much as Comfort, Relaxation and Celebration.

I'm sure there are performers out there offering novelty, too (Alazarin, I'll try to check you out), but that's not all music is good for.

Maybe it got mixed up in the mail.

The idea is sound, akin to watching a live concert on television with the advantage of being able to interact with other people watching and possibly talk to the band after. The problem is the same as always with sl: it's just not really up to doing it. Streaming is slow and hard on a computer, delayed, can't fit many avatars in one place (and still have a decent framerate) and it's not immersive enough to give you any real sense of being there. First steps are important though, Go Team SL .

4) Play naked.

Please - NEVER, EVER come to one of my shows. No matter what I decide to play.

Im a didge player with a very unique sound and that is one AV I dont want to come around to a gig either.. but Slimmie was very good in her response , so Ill just let her handle security ! Woot and whatnot!

Good gigs to ya Chronic.

Heh, I could try that Chronic, but somehow I don't see it making much difference in my case

She was indeed.

Because of the small amount of people who can be at any one venue at one time, somene who thinks he can trash the live musicians in SL after he admitted to seeing a maximum of three of them does NOT belong at one of my shows. I would sooner see that space go to someone who appreciates music. Or, you know, a rock.

interesting thought travis. in this case, however, i'm not comparing sl to another form of technological mediation. i'm comparing sl to the real deal. how is sl fundementally different, even in the manner alazarin describes it, then watching live acts on a community channel telethon or local call in radio show?

its a great diversion in sl in comparision to listening to mp3 streams while your avatar gyrates, and it's a wonderful marketing gimmick, but is it really revolutionary in terms of how it relates the artist to the audience? more importantly, is it any more compelling?

from a sl standpoint, it seems like a newsworthy event - "look our product can stream live music," but from a music standpoint, it's just another "look technology can mediate sound to remote locations,... again," and from a listeners standpoint, i don't experience anywhere close to a connection with the artist or the rest of the audience as i do in rl. it's very interesting that to some others it is everybit as fulfilling. perhaps i need to immerse myself more deeply.

i think this is one area where "live" sl offers more connection than "live" radio or television. everyone tapped into the sim can offer immediate feedback whereas on radio and tv people would have to use yet another medium - telephone - to call in their comments.

If you can't take criticism of your music, maybe SL is a great forum for you them. It's certainly more forgiving than the real world.

I haven't seen anyone in this thread saying that SL show = club show. Ignoring your first sentence for now, I'll respond to your question (which compares SL to another form of technological mediation ). You partly answer it for yourself in the next post; there are just more channels open in an SL show, compared to radio or tv. Your response is very much like Travis' grampa saying, "Whatta we need them pitchers for?" Like adding video to sound, live performance in SL means more information travelling, between audience and performer, among audience members, and to people outside the venue. No, it's not the immersion of a live show iRL, but it is fundamentally different from radio or tv, and an expansion and enrichment of SL entertainment options.