People need to know not every performance is the same. And a recording can't be replicated through a live performance. What a strange culture we live to have these expectations for a live show. Spontaneity is what brings out the soul in music.
I sometimes wish I was in Tokyo as it seems there is a apretty vibrant live scene there. The Japanese apparently still buy a good bit of physical media, even if it is not in the quantities of years past.
This might be a tenuous link, but perhaps this is related to increasing uncertainty in life. Prior to 2008, things were pretty good, which means a comfortable degree of certainty/control in their lives, so a person was open to risking a bad performance. But with things as bad as they are now, they subconsciously dislike the idea of a live performance in order to avoid more risk/uncertainty.
Another thing that's happened is that younger generations have gotten so used to the sound of digitally pitch-corrected music (sometimes done by manually snapping the notes to a line in a music editing program, sometimes done automatically with autotune) that it has become an industry standard. Wings of Pegasus has made a lot of videos exposing that it's used all the time now. Some RUclips channels that claim to feature unprocessed musical performances secretly use pitch correction, Taylor Swift uses autotune live in concert, and even recordings of past musicians (including Barry Gibb and Freddie Mercury) are being pitch corrected now.
We saw the whole replacing live bands with DJ things happen in north Georgia in rural towns. The failure of live music has been pretty much universal. Just easier to pay a DJ.
A large amount of concert going is dating related and WAY less young people are dating. Also a lot of the genres pushed on/popular among younger people arent meaningfully more interesting live. Electronic music, hip hop, contemporary pop, niche alternative stuff, etc. None of these are very compelling live experiences compared to previous generations music which was more instrumental and focused more on virtuosity of the performers, improvisation, etc. Blues, Rock, Metal, Jazz, all much more interesting live than contemporary stuff. The only real popular live music events are festivals and those are popular (waning now) because of the social context you pay to get access to (lots of young women on drugs) not the music.
Yeah that's how club music is - men don't give a shit, they are there for women - and the "DJ" is a guy pressing play and yelling over the top. Very boring to me.
About 15 years ago my dad moved to a mountain town and was playing in bar bands, he saw the work dry up as live musicians were replaced with DJs. Even in these rural places this was happening. Club owners welcomed the change, after all dealing with one DJ is easier than bands, and women will go out and dance with their friends regardless. Less and less people are dating but women go out for other reasons. They don't need men just like they don't need live bands.
It'd be nice if other genre put emphasis on the performance. There are some rare hip-hop bands (in the past) that did put effort into that, but now you only see it at award shows.
You said it. I was watching New Year's at the Needle in Seattle, and this new group called Sugar Bones played inside the Space Needle. I'd never heard of them before and I can understand why because their music was just droning pap. The lead singer sang this tune called Make Me Bad, which she described was based on her love for alcohol and how it "made her bad." I was thinking, "Wow, you rebel, you." What made it funny, though, was their song got interrupted by a commercial break. 😅 If the show thought they were that bad live, I doubt people would pay to see them in concerts. To think, Seattle went from Jimi Hendrix to Heart to Soundgarden to... Sugar Bones? Man, when the city said music died here, they weren't kidding.
I bought lots of metal albums from 2005-2016 and went to almost all the shows that came through my town but a lot of the bands I enjoyed wouldn't come through, they'd go to KC or Denver. If I had the motivation to go to kc I'd do that sometimes but covid ruined so much. I've gone to a few since then but now even those bands that tried to push through have gone on hiatus or disbanded. And now you can just listen to everything on youtube. However, when I go to the gym if I'm doing long calisthenics I love watching live performances, they get me hyped
There's RUclips channels dedicated to bass playing that talk about bands dropping bass players and drummers to have less mouths to feed. So those bands are now 40 to 50 percent off, I guess. Metal seems to be affected also because of the tendency to tune the guitars ever lower, leaving little room in the mix for the bass. Back in 2002 at a Finntroll gig their vocalist Katla climbed on stage and explained in a hoarse voice that he had a tumor in his throat and that they had gotten some Swedish guy to do the vocals for the gig. The audience booed, Katla splashed beer at them, the gig was played (Katla contributed by drinking on stage while the band played), and there was much rejoicing. Twenty years later I watch a live recording of Beast in Black performing Blind and Frozen, and I don't need Wings of Pegasus to tell me that celebrated vocalist Yannis' belts are coming from a tape.
I’m in my 50s now and I moved to a rural town, so I don’t really have a desire to see live music anymore. Used to go shows a lot when I was young. I guess I thought Rock and Roll would never die, and I was just aging out and not giving new music that much attention. Depressing to hear this, really. Some concerts were some of my fondest memories, and it’s hard to accept that young people won’t get to experience that.
Last year, I got to see Blood Guardian, Megadeth, Stryper, and Yngwie Malmsteen. I enjoyed them all, and I'm glad I got to see them live at some point. Stryper especially really care about their live act with their themed outfits and monitor backdrops. Yngwie, like you said, improvises and plays stuff just for you, only singing briefly just to remind you what song he's on. Megadeth is Megadeth But, while I love Blind Guardian, and I'm perhaps most thankful for getting to see them, put on a comparatively underwhelming stage presence in their dad jeans and sweaters while singing about some of the greatest stories ever told. Even their supporting act Night Demon had a guy in a cloaked reaper costume come out with a chalice at some point. I also saw DragonForce on Halloween 2023, and they were an absolute delight. They stood on a platform, giving everyone a good view, they'd reach across and a play each other's instruments, they were flanked by arcade machines playing footage from Golden Axe, Knights of the Round, and King of Dragon, and they did their encore in Nintendo character costumes. I most enjoy seeing live music at Renaissance festivals. Not only do I love the atmosphere and getting to wear a suit of armor myself, but the crowds are much smaller, resulting in a clear, but not overpowering sound that requires hearing protection. The comparatively smaller audiences also result in a level of interactivity with the artists.
John Philip Sousa said recorded music, specifically in the form of player pianos, would end music. It's taken a century, & the exact form isn't the same, but it appears he was ultimately correct. :-(
I had predicted this, and I think it’s starting to happen - classical music has more concert attendance compared to pop, mainly because historical music was written explicitly for live performances.
Haven't watched the fullvideo but all us System of a Down fans remember their hiatus. I actually found out about it years later, since it happens they released a crazy amount of music in a little over 4 years... So they still seemed relevant. I remember you mentioning them in your other video but I guess they weren't around until I saw 'em 2011. Aaaand same thing with Disturbed, they took a few years off. Thing is, those guys did it so much (arguably), that they lost the energy to keep doing that without several year break. It's pretty cool you actually got the experience to do that back in the heyday, would love to see Zul :)
I wish live shows were a thing in my area. When I was a young kid i dreamed of sharing my music on the stage like those old 2000's videos on youtube. But I never got to go to a show like that. By the time I could most of it was already over. Huge bummer for me. Hope it comes back at some point.
I still really enjoy the occasional show if it's a small to mid size venue. I've recently seen bands like The Winery Dogs and Baroness in small venues and it's such a better experience. Smaller shows are more intimate, easier to get in and out of, and the crowds are smaller. Now that I'm older, have a child and the economy being what it is, I really have to stop and think about whether or not a show is worth attending. Is it worth the driving, ticket cost, time, and money for gas food, etc? Sometimes it is, but it becomes harder to justify.
I'm a big MUSE fan, so the only concert I've ever gone to is one of theirs. I had a bit of that reaction that the song is wrong when listening to some of their live recordings beforehand, but I just found more live performances and better prepared myself and thought properly about what I can get out of the live performance rather than focusing on the negatives. It's kind of ironic that the greater prevalence of miming and pre-recordings live are a bigger deterrent. I'm not gonna over-pay for that perfect recording when I have it at home and could just upgrade my audio peripherals with the cost of tickets nowadays.
Yeah...I think the last time I went to a concert was 2007. I did see some live bands occasionally who happened to be playing at my local pub at the weekend years ago, but like you said, it was usually way too loud and annoying as we were just there to drink and chat. And even then, I think the last time was 2015 I guess I just don't enjoy live music that much. Too loud. Too many people. I'd much rather watch a concert on the TV or something. Same with the movies - would much rather watch at home than go to the cinema.
I've been trying to go whenever I see a show I like. I went to Beethoven not too long ago. It's not exactly just music, but I went to see the book of Mormon a few weeks ago which was good. The next two things I have booked are empire strikes back and the LOTR symphony. Pretty excited about those. I've decided I want to look for some sort of jazz I can go listen to. Maybe there's some sort of dinner thing. Otherwise, I do miss browsing people's record collections. Good times.
This may interest you, there is individually made in-ear protection being made, that filters out only certain wave lenghts. This way, you will be able to hear high notes still. The protection is made for noisy work environments,, where it is important to still hear human voices over the deeper sound of machines.
I like to see the Killers whenever they're in town, the venue plays a big part. I do enjoy when I can see a show at the Atlantic City Boardwalk, it takes all the pitfalls out, you don't have to worry about traffic. Parking, if you get a hotel room on the boards. But I'm really interested in going to see Orchestras playing Final Fantasy music...last time I didn't make it into the venue, I did a bunch of Phoenix-Downs in the parking lot and passed out.
Apart from all that, most current bands just play perfect versions of their recordings (at least metal bands), there's no life and no play to it. I stopped going to shows almost entirely a few years ago because I'd get bored to tears each night
The sad part is, those legacy acts who don't perform real live anymore could probably just use a fraction of the staff and do RUclips and probably get more net out of it and then can do the performances their heart really is in
This reminds me of a video you can find of Muse on some italian daytime show, presumably asked to mime, so they mimed with each member playing the others instrument. Super based lmao
I never pirated music, I never pirated anything, I always HAD to own everything, which I still do today, I buy lots of manga & buy all the anime I like on bluray. But with music after CD’s I bought everything on iTunes, I just just burn everything onto a CD from there, but now I just pay €10 per month and can listen to any song on iTunes.
Mechanized, mass-produced; by the machine, for the machine. That's what all the slop is; mold man to conform to the cookie cutter because it serves the interests of the machine. It's like Mordin Solus said of the Collectors: "No art, replaced by tech. No soul, replaced by tech." In the post-industrial Modernist Materialist world, a lot of people just struggle to deal with the chaotic mess and imperfection of organic life; but that's a critical aspect of its value. People need to relearn how to be Human, and depending on where you are in the world, that's a tougher road to hoe than others.
The loudness of "sound" rly drives me up the wall in some of the shows I've experienced lately. I would also add, the culture is different now too: young people don't drink/smoke (tho vape :s) and/or hang out as much. And everyone is into their own "thing." Never sharing the experience of experiencing something with others - for the lack of a better description. Back in the day, one could spot people out in the wild who were into a particular scene by their tattoos, or clothes. Now you have to look really close at their tatts - anime girl tattoos - oh, prolly not into Death Metal (well, maybe into Baby Metal, ahaha!). Not a lot of scenes cross-pollinate either...
I haven't been to a concert since 2019 due to the overall impact of, well, that 2019 thing. I'm far from being against the idea however. In terms of general ambiance and attitudes, black metal and folk metal gigs especially seem to agree with me fine. I always wear protection when I go, but I do tend to nudge it looser if the sound is too muffled, which if course weakens the protection but oh well. Nevertheless, my beat up body is certainly not eager to welcome my return to the mosh pit. I wish I could, but until I get genuinely better it would clearly be unreasonable.
I have a lot of the same feelings about live music. I saw Metallica on their last tour around 2016/17. I thought they were one of the better live acts I'd seen in a long time, even though I do think Kirk's playing can be a little sloppy and Lars' drumming is dumbed down. I also saw them in 95, but that was 30 years ago, and I was probably high and can't remember how clean the performance was. I'm going to see Dream Theater next month. James LaBrie is pretty much known to lip sync at this point, but I think most fans don't really care that much. He has always been the weak link of the group, and most fans are going to hear the other guys play insanely technical parts on their instruments. I also wear earplugs at these shows, at least part of the time. Agree that it is just too damn loud.
Idk. The Fresno scene wasn’t really affected. I had been gigging in it since 1996 and actually made more money in the recession years. Things changed more around 2011-2012
I remember when I went to Toronto there was an old Chinese guy playing on one of their violent like instruments. My ex was with me and I would have stayed until he finished if she hadn't nudged along or had to be somewhere. I really like those and besides you dropping some toonies in their case, hat, ect. it was free. A free performance. They've had professional musicians play on the street where they perform in concert halls, and people wouldn't even act like it caught their ear. Superficial society. You get things online and I think that devalued the experience for many. People no long think art is something you should pay for when it's so easy to access. AI art made it worse in my expertise, but I know it's just as much a pain in music. However, you can tell AI music is just that. It's all over RUclips and they crap it out quick, but there is nothing behind it.
People need to know not every performance is the same. And a recording can't be replicated through a live performance. What a strange culture we live to have these expectations for a live show. Spontaneity is what brings out the soul in music.
I sometimes wish I was in Tokyo as it seems there is a apretty vibrant live scene there. The Japanese apparently still buy a good bit of physical media, even if it is not in the quantities of years past.
This might be a tenuous link, but perhaps this is related to increasing uncertainty in life. Prior to 2008, things were pretty good, which means a comfortable degree of certainty/control in their lives, so a person was open to risking a bad performance. But with things as bad as they are now, they subconsciously dislike the idea of a live performance in order to avoid more risk/uncertainty.
The guy who does the live analysis videos is called Wings of Pegasus! Highly recommend
Another thing that's happened is that younger generations have gotten so used to the sound of digitally pitch-corrected music (sometimes done by manually snapping the notes to a line in a music editing program, sometimes done automatically with autotune) that it has become an industry standard. Wings of Pegasus has made a lot of videos exposing that it's used all the time now. Some RUclips channels that claim to feature unprocessed musical performances secretly use pitch correction, Taylor Swift uses autotune live in concert, and even recordings of past musicians (including Barry Gibb and Freddie Mercury) are being pitch corrected now.
We saw the whole replacing live bands with DJ things happen in north Georgia in rural towns. The failure of live music has been pretty much universal. Just easier to pay a DJ.
A large amount of concert going is dating related and WAY less young people are dating.
Also a lot of the genres pushed on/popular among younger people arent meaningfully more interesting live. Electronic music, hip hop, contemporary pop, niche alternative stuff, etc.
None of these are very compelling live experiences compared to previous generations music which was more instrumental and focused more on virtuosity of the performers, improvisation, etc. Blues, Rock, Metal, Jazz, all much more interesting live than contemporary stuff.
The only real popular live music events are festivals and those are popular (waning now) because of the social context you pay to get access to (lots of young women on drugs) not the music.
Yeah that's how club music is - men don't give a shit, they are there for women - and the "DJ" is a guy pressing play and yelling over the top.
Very boring to me.
About 15 years ago my dad moved to a mountain town and was playing in bar bands, he saw the work dry up as live musicians were replaced with DJs. Even in these rural places this was happening. Club owners welcomed the change, after all dealing with one DJ is easier than bands, and women will go out and dance with their friends regardless. Less and less people are dating but women go out for other reasons. They don't need men just like they don't need live bands.
It'd be nice if other genre put emphasis on the performance. There are some rare hip-hop bands (in the past) that did put effort into that, but now you only see it at award shows.
You said it. I was watching New Year's at the Needle in Seattle, and this new group called Sugar Bones played inside the Space Needle. I'd never heard of them before and I can understand why because their music was just droning pap. The lead singer sang this tune called Make Me Bad, which she described was based on her love for alcohol and how it "made her bad." I was thinking, "Wow, you rebel, you." What made it funny, though, was their song got interrupted by a commercial break. 😅 If the show thought they were that bad live, I doubt people would pay to see them in concerts. To think, Seattle went from Jimi Hendrix to Heart to Soundgarden to... Sugar Bones? Man, when the city said music died here, they weren't kidding.
I bought lots of metal albums from 2005-2016 and went to almost all the shows that came through my town but a lot of the bands I enjoyed wouldn't come through, they'd go to KC or Denver. If I had the motivation to go to kc I'd do that sometimes but covid ruined so much. I've gone to a few since then but now even those bands that tried to push through have gone on hiatus or disbanded. And now you can just listen to everything on youtube. However, when I go to the gym if I'm doing long calisthenics I love watching live performances, they get me hyped
There's RUclips channels dedicated to bass playing that talk about bands dropping bass players and drummers to have less mouths to feed. So those bands are now 40 to 50 percent off, I guess. Metal seems to be affected also because of the tendency to tune the guitars ever lower, leaving little room in the mix for the bass.
Back in 2002 at a Finntroll gig their vocalist Katla climbed on stage and explained in a hoarse voice that he had a tumor in his throat and that they had gotten some Swedish guy to do the vocals for the gig. The audience booed, Katla splashed beer at them, the gig was played (Katla contributed by drinking on stage while the band played), and there was much rejoicing. Twenty years later I watch a live recording of Beast in Black performing Blind and Frozen, and I don't need Wings of Pegasus to tell me that celebrated vocalist Yannis' belts are coming from a tape.
I’m in my 50s now and I moved to a rural town, so I don’t really have a desire to see live music anymore. Used to go shows a lot when I was young. I guess I thought Rock and Roll would never die, and I was just aging out and not giving new music that much attention. Depressing to hear this, really. Some concerts were some of my fondest memories, and it’s hard to accept that young people won’t get to experience that.
Last year, I got to see Blood Guardian, Megadeth, Stryper, and Yngwie Malmsteen. I enjoyed them all, and I'm glad I got to see them live at some point. Stryper especially really care about their live act with their themed outfits and monitor backdrops. Yngwie, like you said, improvises and plays stuff just for you, only singing briefly just to remind you what song he's on. Megadeth is Megadeth
But, while I love Blind Guardian, and I'm perhaps most thankful for getting to see them, put on a comparatively underwhelming stage presence in their dad jeans and sweaters while singing about some of the greatest stories ever told. Even their supporting act Night Demon had a guy in a cloaked reaper costume come out with a chalice at some point.
I also saw DragonForce on Halloween 2023, and they were an absolute delight. They stood on a platform, giving everyone a good view, they'd reach across and a play each other's instruments, they were flanked by arcade machines playing footage from Golden Axe, Knights of the Round, and King of Dragon, and they did their encore in Nintendo character costumes.
I most enjoy seeing live music at Renaissance festivals. Not only do I love the atmosphere and getting to wear a suit of armor myself, but the crowds are much smaller, resulting in a clear, but not overpowering sound that requires hearing protection. The comparatively smaller audiences also result in a level of interactivity with the artists.
John Philip Sousa said recorded music, specifically in the form of player pianos, would end music. It's taken a century, & the exact form isn't the same, but it appears he was ultimately correct. :-(
I had predicted this, and I think it’s starting to happen - classical music has more concert attendance compared to pop, mainly because historical music was written explicitly for live performances.
Haven't watched the fullvideo but all us System of a Down fans remember their hiatus. I actually found out about it years later, since it happens they released a crazy amount of music in a little over 4 years... So they still seemed relevant. I remember you mentioning them in your other video but I guess they weren't around until I saw 'em 2011.
Aaaand same thing with Disturbed, they took a few years off. Thing is, those guys did it so much (arguably), that they lost the energy to keep doing that without several year break.
It's pretty cool you actually got the experience to do that back in the heyday, would love to see Zul :)
Good summary
I wish live shows were a thing in my area. When I was a young kid i dreamed of sharing my music on the stage like those old 2000's videos on youtube. But I never got to go to a show like that. By the time I could most of it was already over. Huge bummer for me. Hope it comes back at some point.
I still really enjoy the occasional show if it's a small to mid size venue. I've recently seen bands like The Winery Dogs and Baroness in small venues and it's such a better experience. Smaller shows are more intimate, easier to get in and out of, and the crowds are smaller. Now that I'm older, have a child and the economy being what it is, I really have to stop and think about whether or not a show is worth attending. Is it worth the driving, ticket cost, time, and money for gas food, etc? Sometimes it is, but it becomes harder to justify.
I'm a big MUSE fan, so the only concert I've ever gone to is one of theirs. I had a bit of that reaction that the song is wrong when listening to some of their live recordings beforehand, but I just found more live performances and better prepared myself and thought properly about what I can get out of the live performance rather than focusing on the negatives. It's kind of ironic that the greater prevalence of miming and pre-recordings live are a bigger deterrent. I'm not gonna over-pay for that perfect recording when I have it at home and could just upgrade my audio peripherals with the cost of tickets nowadays.
Yeah...I think the last time I went to a concert was 2007. I did see some live bands occasionally who happened to be playing at my local pub at the weekend years ago, but like you said, it was usually way too loud and annoying as we were just there to drink and chat. And even then, I think the last time was 2015
I guess I just don't enjoy live music that much. Too loud. Too many people. I'd much rather watch a concert on the TV or something. Same with the movies - would much rather watch at home than go to the cinema.
i watch this video the day after i saw the new bob dylan biopic
I've been trying to go whenever I see a show I like. I went to Beethoven not too long ago. It's not exactly just music, but I went to see the book of Mormon a few weeks ago which was good. The next two things I have booked are empire strikes back and the LOTR symphony. Pretty excited about those. I've decided I want to look for some sort of jazz I can go listen to. Maybe there's some sort of dinner thing.
Otherwise, I do miss browsing people's record collections. Good times.
This may interest you, there is individually made in-ear protection being made, that filters out only certain wave lenghts. This way, you will be able to hear high notes still. The protection is made for noisy work environments,, where it is important to still hear human voices over the deeper sound of machines.
I like to see the Killers whenever they're in town, the venue plays a big part. I do enjoy when I can see a show at the Atlantic City Boardwalk, it takes all the pitfalls out, you don't have to worry about traffic. Parking, if you get a hotel room on the boards.
But I'm really interested in going to see Orchestras playing Final Fantasy music...last time I didn't make it into the venue, I did a bunch of Phoenix-Downs in the parking lot and passed out.
Apart from all that, most current bands just play perfect versions of their recordings (at least metal bands), there's no life and no play to it. I stopped going to shows almost entirely a few years ago because I'd get bored to tears each night
The sad part is, those legacy acts who don't perform real live anymore could probably just use a fraction of the staff and do RUclips and probably get more net out of it and then can do the performances their heart really is in
This reminds me of a video you can find of Muse on some italian daytime show, presumably asked to mime, so they mimed with each member playing the others instrument. Super based lmao
Wings of Pegasus was the channel you were thinking of, btw
I only went to one or two music shows in my entire life, when I was a teenager. But going to a live event is never something I was interested in.
I never pirated music, I never pirated anything, I always HAD to own everything, which I still do today, I buy lots of manga & buy all the anime I like on bluray.
But with music after CD’s I bought everything on iTunes, I just just burn everything onto a CD from there, but now I just pay €10 per month and can listen to any song on iTunes.
Hearing the Ode to Joy live is life changing
It'll come back in a few generations if it dies.
Mechanized, mass-produced; by the machine, for the machine. That's what all the slop is; mold man to conform to the cookie cutter because it serves the interests of the machine. It's like Mordin Solus said of the Collectors: "No art, replaced by tech. No soul, replaced by tech."
In the post-industrial Modernist Materialist world, a lot of people just struggle to deal with the chaotic mess and imperfection of organic life; but that's a critical aspect of its value. People need to relearn how to be Human, and depending on where you are in the world, that's a tougher road to hoe than others.
The loudness of "sound" rly drives me up the wall in some of the shows I've experienced lately.
I would also add, the culture is different now too: young people don't drink/smoke (tho vape :s) and/or hang out as much. And everyone is into their own "thing." Never sharing the experience of experiencing something with others - for the lack of a better description.
Back in the day, one could spot people out in the wild who were into a particular scene by their tattoos, or clothes. Now you have to look really close at their tatts - anime girl tattoos - oh, prolly not into Death Metal (well, maybe into Baby Metal, ahaha!).
Not a lot of scenes cross-pollinate either...
From what I've seen, I'd rather have a backing track vocal than a live one if I see Motley Crue "live".
I haven't been to a concert since 2019 due to the overall impact of, well, that 2019 thing. I'm far from being against the idea however. In terms of general ambiance and attitudes, black metal and folk metal gigs especially seem to agree with me fine. I always wear protection when I go, but I do tend to nudge it looser if the sound is too muffled, which if course weakens the protection but oh well. Nevertheless, my beat up body is certainly not eager to welcome my return to the mosh pit. I wish I could, but until I get genuinely better it would clearly be unreasonable.
Kamelot was the best band i saw live.
I have a lot of the same feelings about live music. I saw Metallica on their last tour around 2016/17. I thought they were one of the better live acts I'd seen in a long time, even though I do think Kirk's playing can be a little sloppy and Lars' drumming is dumbed down. I also saw them in 95, but that was 30 years ago, and I was probably high and can't remember how clean the performance was.
I'm going to see Dream Theater next month. James LaBrie is pretty much known to lip sync at this point, but I think most fans don't really care that much. He has always been the weak link of the group, and most fans are going to hear the other guys play insanely technical parts on their instruments.
I also wear earplugs at these shows, at least part of the time. Agree that it is just too damn loud.
Idk. The Fresno scene wasn’t really affected. I had been gigging in it since 1996 and actually made more money in the recession years. Things changed more around 2011-2012
I remember when I went to Toronto there was an old Chinese guy playing on one of their violent like instruments. My ex was with me and I would have stayed until he finished if she hadn't nudged along or had to be somewhere. I really like those and besides you dropping some toonies in their case, hat, ect. it was free. A free performance. They've had professional musicians play on the street where they perform in concert halls, and people wouldn't even act like it caught their ear. Superficial society.
You get things online and I think that devalued the experience for many. People no long think art is something you should pay for when it's so easy to access. AI art made it worse in my expertise, but I know it's just as much a pain in music. However, you can tell AI music is just that. It's all over RUclips and they crap it out quick, but there is nothing behind it.