Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - Billie Eilish - I don’t understand.

I’ve always been interested in ‘pop’ music so out of curiosity I tuned into watch Billie Eilish perform at the Leeds festival last night. I’ve heard one or two of her songs and thought they were OK but unremarkable and was interested to see what she could do.

Massive crowd obviously, all singing along to her songs, most of which seemed rather depressing.

But..

It was obvious she was performing to a backing track and not singing or playing ‘live’ most of the time. She would point her mic at the crown but her vocals could still be heard, her brother would play a bass or acoustic guitar and be accompanied by keyboards or harmonies that were clearly pre recorded. She did ‘sing’ over the backing track and her brother did play guitar but it was very clear that most of what was being ‘performed’ wasn’t being played live. There was one section where her brother was playing some electronic drums and not hitting the instrument at all but the drum beat continued.

What I don’t understand is why this didn’t matter to her audience. They seemed deliriously happy to be in her presence and watch her pretend to be live. This I don’t understand. Her music isn’t complicated and she can clearly sing her songs so why not get a band together and some backing singers and perform the songs live?

I’m not decrying her abilities or her popularity. I just don’t understand why she performs in an artificial manner.

Ps, wasn’t that impressed by her music either!

I also believe the BBC wanted to exercise some control over what was broadcast, you were never certain with some bands as to what state they were in when performing live and whether they might depart from the song lyrics, as some bands/artists were very 'political' and may have abused the opportunity a live broadcast presented to them.

Also a fair few songs seemed to have rude versions and radio safe versions so I expect the BBC (and ABC) wanted to make sure the radio safe version was aired.

I am currently in a band called Revibe. Just a covers band playing music from the 1950's to current with most from the 1970's and 1980's but a few new songs to try keep the singer happy. Here is a short video of the crowd at a camping ground who decided to put us on one weekend to attract a larger crowd of campers https://www.facebook.com/reel/916158349392007. I play bass and Harmonica, not very compatible instruments so have to concentrate when playing both. We don't have a keyboard player so I do things like Nutbush on the Harmonica as per the video the camp ground posted. For non Aussies this is the Nutbush dance, I thought it was something everyone did to the song but it seems to be just an Australian thing.

I started playing in bands in the mid 1980's. Back then I was on $19,142 a year as a junior computer programmer and in a 5 piece band getting about $400 so $80 each, most bands were 4 piece and getting $100 each. Mainly playing 60's and 70's doing about 100 gigs a year playing most Friday and Saturday nights with the odd Thursday night or Sunday afternoon thrown in so about $8,000 a year and I could fill up my car for $20. It covered all my living expense and I used my total salary to pay off that Mortgage I had at 18%. Now most gigs are $600 and I am still in a 5 piece band so $120 each and only playing about 20 times a year means maybe $2400 and now it costs $100 to fill up the car. Good thing it is fun.



I also play with a bunch of people playing mainly Italian Baroque music, we do the odd concert but that is free. I made the guitar which was an interesting challenge.






A band most of you are more likely to know is my cousin in the UK was/is the Lambrettas drummer. Here they are in 1980



By was/is I mean he was one of the founding members and the band is still playing as far as I know.

In my younger days I played a bit and wasn’t too shabby. Happy playing live or in a studio but l was a bit of a ‘neck watcher’ so I imagine I wasn’t particularly interesting to watch. Realised my limitations when I was fortunate to jam with The Jam. I remember clearly that they could play effortlessly and put their expression into their playing whereas I was concentrating just on getting the notes right!

Couldn’t imagine my bunch miming! Or The Jam !