My GF was a photographer at a Secret Cinema event with Laura Marling that took place in London. She had to take some promo pictures, so they met in one of the event rooms [1] for the photoshoot. After just a few pictures they were done and instead of wrapping up, Laura started to perform one of her songs.
Not the same scale as Bob Dylan concert, but still a concert for one. A kind gesture, unconditional, free, ephemeral, but leaving a life lasting memory.
In 1921 in Soviet Petrograd (St. Petersburg, then Leningrad, then St. Petersburg again) there was a society called "A house of arts". It was formed by artists, who, among other things, gave lectures on various topics. One of lecturers was a famous Russian poet Alexander Blok. It was a very cold winter and, since the country just underwent a revolution and a civil war, the heating in the lecture hall did not work. The students' headman had to keep the ink bottle on his body so that the ink did not freeze: after the lecture the lecturer had to write down the number of hours in a journal.
On a particularly cold day Blok arrived to the hall and found just a single student, the headman. He very politely asked if the student has the time to listen to the lecture. The student (who later became a writer) assured Blok that indeed he does. And Blok talked for two hours, then made a small break for ten minutes, and talked for two more hours. He then jotted down "History of Western literature, 1 hour", put on his hat and left.
I was reading the superdome wikipedia page(as one does) and there is this amazing blurb on how in 1987 the jets once played to to an empty stadium due to a scheduling mix up. The idea was so compelling I spent a little time trying to find contemporary articles about the event (or non-event if you will). Unfortunately wikipedia's source is not readily available and I was not able to place the jets at the superdome in 1987. So just another unconfirmed weird factoid taking it's place among all the other unconfirmed weird factoids my brain likes to keep track of instead of actually remembering something useful.
In retrospect this falls into that gray zone There are vast quantities of information that are not on the web, There were probably articles written about this. but I am only willing to put the bare minimum effort into researching it, If I can't find it with a 10 minute web search it might as well not exist and the web search engines are getting dumber at an alarming rate.
This isn't that unusual at all. Many pop stars make a lot of money with private concerts for very rich individuals or companies. Even actors like Leonardo DiCaprio get paid to vacate on the super yachts of rich people from gulf states who then show off the celeb and get attention for themselves.
My personal hypothesis for why pop music seems so odd, BORING and promoting luxury life instead of dealing with people's every day problems and heart aches. The Spotify users don't pay their bills, it's the high profile fans among the billionaires who do. Also their parties are fancier I guess.
I've gotten to watch a fair number of soundchecks as the only civilian in the room - it really is a magical experience. I've become friends with the guys in my favorite band and it's lead to some really magical experiences, like the time I got to play guitar for the last minute or so of a sold out show at the Ryman in Nashville (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tCrreXh0Pg&list=RD8tCrreXh0... starting at about the 6 minute mark)
> Not only that, but Dylan did not perform his usual fare. Instead, he performed four 1950s covers, several of which he’s never sung before or since: Buddy Holly’s “Heartbeat,” Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill,” Lefty Frizzell’s “You’re Too Late,” and Big Bill Broonzy’s “Key to the Highway.”
songs like those ARE his usual fare these days. Apparently not exactly those tunes, but covers like those are typical
According to setlist.fm, that show [0] is indeed the only time he’s played “Heartbeat” and “Blueberry Hill”. For the other, he’s only played them 3 or 4 times each, and it’s the last show for both.
Not the same scale as Bob Dylan concert, but still a concert for one. A kind gesture, unconditional, free, ephemeral, but leaving a life lasting memory.
[1] https://everybody-s.com/laura-marling-the-grand-eagle-ball-s...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Shaolin
Growing up, I always found it slight strange that this big global name was playing down the road.
On a particularly cold day Blok arrived to the hall and found just a single student, the headman. He very politely asked if the student has the time to listen to the lecture. The student (who later became a writer) assured Blok that indeed he does. And Blok talked for two hours, then made a small break for ten minutes, and talked for two more hours. He then jotted down "History of Western literature, 1 hour", put on his hat and left.
The lecture topic was Servantes and Don Quixote.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesars_Superdome#Concerts
In retrospect this falls into that gray zone There are vast quantities of information that are not on the web, There were probably articles written about this. but I am only willing to put the bare minimum effort into researching it, If I can't find it with a 10 minute web search it might as well not exist and the web search engines are getting dumber at an alarming rate.
My personal hypothesis for why pop music seems so odd, BORING and promoting luxury life instead of dealing with people's every day problems and heart aches. The Spotify users don't pay their bills, it's the high profile fans among the billionaires who do. Also their parties are fancier I guess.
songs like those ARE his usual fare these days. Apparently not exactly those tunes, but covers like those are typical
I've seen him recently and those are not his usual fare: https://www.bobdylan.com/setlists/
He played a couple of his most well-known songs, a few off his recent albums, and one or two I didn't know. It was not 1950s covers...
0: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bob-dylan/2014/academy-of-mus...