Wall St was down 94 overnight, its biggest fall in a month, while the local market is down 66.
Hey Victorian government, leave Britney alone!
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If I went to a Britney Spears’ concert…. Let me start that again. A bit more realistically. What is a Britney Spears concert? I suspect that, like a Kylie concert or a Madonna concert or a Justin Timberlake concert, it is an event where fans go along and expect to see note-perfect reproductions of the songs they love from albums performed in front of them with all the added glitz, glamour and gadgetry that you can only get in a concert situation. They want dance, and fireworks and sex and anything else these stars feel like giving them. Do they care if some of the music is lip-synced? The Victorian Government thinks so:
It seems a no-brainer, in one way I guess. Why not make them declare whether they will be singing live or not? At least that way you can decide in advance whether you want to go or not. Informed decision and all that. And I strongly suspect that it wouldn’t cost the performers I’ve listed above a solitary sale. But what’s at stake here? Not much it seems to me. Like I said, I think certain fans just presume that some lip-syncing goes on and they don’t give a toss. It’s not, as a promoter quoted in the article suggests, that they are not there for the music. Of course, they are there for the music. It’s just that they want to hear the music live like they hear it at home, and then they want a show to go with it. Of course, there are other sorts of fans of other sorts of music who definitely don’t want to hear anything pre-recorded at a gig (except maybe a tape-loop or something like that). If I thought for a second that Lucinda Williams was lip-syncing her way through a gig, or that Martha Wainwright was or the Stones were or that the Sydney Symphony had pre-recorded the first violin part, well, yeah, sure I’d be annoyed. I’d feel ripped off. But if they did, the market, that is, their fans, would sort it out so quickly it would either never happen again, or the performer would simply cease to have a viable audience. For fans of music like this, the live performance of the music, with the possibility of improvisation, of a singer or musician excelling themselves, of variation rather than rote reproduction, even the possibility of error, is the essence of the live experience. Lip-syncing or equivalent technique by such a performer would certainly be a betrayal as it would genuinely involve deception. Do I need a law to protect me from such a likelihood? Nup. My inclination is to tell the government to pull their head in. Read the rest of that article: there is so much righteous indignation about “protecting consumers” (see the quote from the person from the Consumer Action Law Centre and the NSW government), not to mention sneering put-downs of music they don’t happen to like, that I’m more inclined to pass a law against politicians lip-syncing pious inanities. It seems to me this law will “protect” people who don’t really care and be irrelevant to people who do. So, Victorian Government, leave Britney alone! |
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14 Comments
It’s entertainment, if some of it is mime, it’s still entertainment. Victorian concert-goers should oppose this, as the law of unintended consequences is more likely to result in promoters removing Victoria from the live concert tour, than following this law. Canberra would be happy enough to take them
I would agree with the government if it wasn’t the same crap they trot out every time a big name international performer mimes(madonna anyone?). If the PRemier and his mates complained as hard when the Idols do a “live” performance at a shopping mall then they would have a point. Personally when I went to concerts I went for the event and to hear my favourite songs played live and sometimes with a little twist. Definitely not the same as the records.. I don’t know why Britney fans would go but is it really to hear the same as the records? If that is what they a re after they could play the records at home?
I personally am kicking myself that I will be on a plane to LA instead of attending Britney’s Melbourne concert. But, I don’t expect her to sing live. Have you heard her sing live? It’s terrible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vecs22aM4yw
@Amber: here, let me fix that for you - ” Have you heard her sing? It’s terrible.”
Awful melody, awful lyrics.
Here comes that nanny state again. Exposing the lip-syncers? I thought that’s what the free media, and now the entertainment websites, blogs, and twitter, were for. Nanny state, go back to your knitting.
Come on…. really? I’m starting to become concerned about the level of ‘consumer protection’ governments these days think we really need. At the risk of sounding like some sceptical American worried about socialist government intervention - we need to think about targeted and proportionate regulation where it is necessary. The more governments seek to intervene to protect citizens from every little thing, the more people feel a sense of entitlement to be shielded from every inconvenience, con or mistake, no matter how small or trivial.
Britney Spears Circus Concerts
Nov 11 & 12 & 13 & 27 Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Rod Laver Arena.
Britney Spears Circus Concerts Nov 6 & 7.
Some of the largest crowds ever at the Perth Burswood Done venue.
If your look at any of Britney’s Concert photos, you will notice she is wearing a microphone. Britney has had a microphone for all her concert including the two previous North American circuits, including the first one that was the biggest box office concert of North America this year. Britney has also worn a microphone for the Circus concerts for England and Europe including Russia this year. All without any of the sort of unfair reporting such as that.
Those making the false reports about people who complained who didn’t see the concert or those who reported Britney didn’t cause a “frenzy”? Britney doesn’t have to be a concert to cause a frenzy.
If the government of Victoria or anyone else was concerned about consumer protection, perhaps they should do something about newspapers and reporters who locally reported false and unfair reports in a effort to cause hate and deliberately harm innocent people and legitimate business.
Maybe the people of Victoria should consider what to do with elected politician who want to be puppets for repeating the words of criminal and dishonest conduct in a fained effort to appear to be concerned about the people of Australia while such false and unfair reporting.
To give you some idea just how far out those involved in such efforts to harm were, they neglected to mention that this is nearly a two performance involving many performers. A concert and a circus that has thrilled and brought joy to people all over the world. And now, here is some reporter who couldn’t tell about all the wonderful attractions. These include many dance and other routines that require great physical effort. This makes maintaining studio quality digital singing while involved in physical performances difficult.
This is why many movies and TV programs use prerecorded singing for many out of studio action scenes. If anyone is going to start being concerned about what entertainment tracks were prerecorded or recorded at the time, you would have to put such warnings on many movie and TV programs. Since most concert include recorded music, and the sort of unfair discrimination shown against Britney here, those involved should expect to face charges. Since that is what anyone deserves who would deliberately try to harm an innocent performer such as Britney Spears. Britney Spears, a wonderful mother. Someone who has brought great joy, happiness and excitement to the people of Australia.
Nothing like complaining about studio digital quality music at a music concert.
Respectbritney
Nothing like comparing apples with eggs. Its a live concert. Just because she wears a microphone doesn’t means she uses it. If youv’e heard the truly cruel direct mike mix from a year ago you will understand why she does. I have no animosity towards Ms Spears but I believe she is Annette Funicello to Beyonce’s Aretha Franklin.
If you are going to mime then print it on the tickets. Problem solved buyer beware.
I hope this was a leave Britney alone spoof, if not I say devotion is good in small doses.
She wears a microphone like she wears clothes - for the appearance. But it doesn’t really matter.
@meski songs from some of the best songwriters that money can buy! I’m not sure what kind of music you enjoy, and I’m not one for bubblegum-pop, but I’m not so arrogant to deride quality pop music for what it is: sharp, modern and infectious.
Reports from Perth indicate that Britney sings at least one song; maybe a handful. This tour is called a ‘Circus’ - you are going to see dancing and fireworks and gymnastic type guff, much like you see at your Cirque de Soleil type event. I can appreciate the appeal.
The answer to the live/mime question is extremely simple: if Britney is touring and will be singing live, write ‘Britney will be singing live!’ on the poster. I don’t think that people who care about live singing would otherwise expect to hear it at this type of show. The promoters have the opportunity to promote the features of their product, but they shouldn’t have to explicitly state it’s harmless and predictable limitations.
@Kirk, but I have listened to Britney’s ‘music’ and it is, to my ear, as described. Infectious? It’s droning.
@Meski again, not sure what kind of music you like - but if it is so ‘droning’ I wonder why it is so popular? Actual drone music is far less popular (and does a much better job of being ‘droning’).
News.com today has reports of a mass sell off of Melbourne tickets.
Is there any validity to this or is it just bandwagon jumping?
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