I was at Live 8 London and I think to an extent Elton John has a point. While there can be no questioning that the artists on show were largely top draw and there were very few outright disappointing performances, much of the atmosphere was lost because of the huge corporate presence in the "Golden Circle". This collection of high-powered company sorts, pen-pushers, media darlings and others who weren't there because they won in the normal text message competition, managed to distance those with the real passion for the music who were set a good fifty metres back from the stage at least. There is absolutely no doubt that this would have had an impact on the attitude of the artists towards the event: when they normally play a show, their main audience is normally within reach-out-and-touch distance and thus a strong connection between performer and crowd can be easily acheived and this then gets reflected in the atmosphere of the event. This would be where the 'lack of charisma' that Elton John speaks of developed. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed my day, just wish that the corporate sorts hadn't been able to get in between the musicians and the true audience!
Latest posts made by Thurm
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RE: 'LIVE 8 WAS AN ANTI-CLIMAX', MOANS SIR ELTON
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RE: U2 and PAUL :-S Download Link added
Paul's vocal performance on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 is stunning - I was in the Hyde Park crowd and thought it was good then, but to hear it back on the download is amazing - the second 'verse' in particular (the #I don't really wanna stop the show# section) really rolls back the years, one of Paul's strongest vocal showings of recent times, and knowing how good he's been on recent tours and events, we know how good that must mean!
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RE: Brian Ray Archived
He's a great guitarist... however being male I don't see the attraction females might get to him. Great that you like him though.
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RE: Brian Ray Archived
He's probably the least interesting of Paul's band members. Looks a lil bit like a Hillbilly. Played very well though, so we can forgive his goofish appearance. And no, I don't have any links, sorry!