The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: 03 Jun 2011 04:15 AM PDT NASHVILLE (Billboard): In another era, it was enough for artists from Hank Williams to Randy Travis to show up in a city, unpack their gear and play. Stage production for Willie Nelson was simply unfurling a Texas flag and launching into Whiskey River. But as country has moved to bigger venues in a high-tech world, the heft of tour productions and the volume of add-ons has increased. Brooks & Dunn drenched fans near the front with confetti, Kenny Chesney extended the length of his runways, Garth Brooks flew out over the audience, Reba McEntire incorporated dancers and elaborate costume changes, Brad Paisley designed his own cartoon backdrops and Carrie Underwood this past year sang from the back of a pickup that ran a loop suspended over the heads of floor patrons. It's likely that all or most of those artists started their own concert-going experiences by attending more standard-variety country shows in their youth, then witnessing the growth in the genre's concert tech as artists from the Oak Ridge Boys to Shania Twain borrowed from pop and rock playbooks to create their visuals. By the time Taylor Swift, born in 1989, came of concert-going age, large video screens and more sophisticated lighting systems were standard for arena-sized tours. As a result, she represents a new generation for whom massive-scale country concert productions are not just an add-on. They're a natural part of the country-arena experience. Swift launched her Speak Now Tour in the U.S. last weekend, playing Omaha on May 27-28 and Des Moines on May 29, and the two-hour production was an overwhelming experience. Lighted trees, pyrotechnics, dancers popping up from the stage, aerialists twirling above the eight-piece band, nine costume changes, multiple set changes, a floor-sweeping mime, confetti, a satellite stage and a small, gazebo-ish lift that took her over the crowd were just some of the details that turned an evening into a spectacle. In essence, one of the genre's most ambitious acts has created one of the genre's most ambitious tours, drawing from country, pop, rock, Broadway and likely Glee to create an ever-changing production. Watch Swift and the backdrop changed; watch the backdrop and Swift was suddenly in a different outfit. And just when there was a lull -- boom! -- fireworks exploded or dancers appeared out of giant bells. ``The first time that I fell in love with performing is when I went to go see theater in my hometown in Pennsylvania,'' Swift said after the performance at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. ''I would see it done incredibly well -- going to see Broadway plays of 'Wicked' -- things like that just really inspired me from an early age to love putting on a theatrical performance where there are storylines and characters, and you're always seeing a scene change into another scene. I love telling a story in any way possible.'' Akin in pacing to a Pink Floyd concert, Speak Now flowed practically uninterrupted between songs, costumes and sets. Historically, country hasn't always matched up well to big productions -- sometimes the ambitions have seemed disconnected from the music or its spirit. But in Swift's case, the end result is a fully realized concept. Swift, as a singer-songwriter, wrote all the music and conceived the show's themes and visuals, limited only by the ways in which her stage designer could fit it all in. So while a production that incorporates snow, ballet and an Appalachian front porch could come across as hokey and disjointed in another's hands, Swift managed to pull off a certain cohesiveness. ``We spent months going over the set list and just thinking of where things would go, which ones would segue well into other songs and how we could tell individual stories,'' she noted. ``I didn't want to tell one big story. I wanted each song to have its own story.'' Swift benefited from turning her final rehearsal into a fundraiser, amassing US$750,000 for tornado relief May 21 at Bridgestone Arena. That show went off smoothly, auguring well for the opening weekend. ``We had a few costumes that weren't finished yet at that point, but other than that everything was the way the show is,'' she notes. ``That rehearsal went incredibly well. I never expected for it to go on without a hitch, but it did and after the show we were all just jumping up and down, screaming.'' It opens up a new possibility: that the final rehearsal of a tour could be routinely turned into a ticketed event. Other artists might pick up on the idea. But Swift sounded less than enthusiastic about it. ``I have no idea if I would ever want to make it something that's an annual thing,'' she said. ``It was so perfect for the moment. And you've gotta live life that way. When moments pop up and things pop up, take these things on a case-by-case basis.'' In this case, there's an enormous amount of detail that worked to make the Speak Now Tour a sort of next step in country concert presentation, right down to the roman-numeral XIII on the bell props and the fairy dust (small bits of confetti) that dropped from her lift over the audience during Love Story. It blended the pacing, the music and the artist's personality in a way that transfixed many in the crowd. It's a production-and an ability-that her peers in the business will continue to study. 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| Posted: 03 Jun 2011 03:21 AM PDT Canadian pop-punk rock outfit Simple Plan is defiantly sticking to its guns on its new album, Get Your Heart On!, even if it means not growing up. JUDGING by the poignant closing track on Simple Plan's latest album, Get Your Heart On!, you might think that the Canadian pop-punk band has gone serious. After all, the song titled This Song Saved My Life, explores the emotional power of music and includes heartfelt lyrics that read like a journal entry of a depressed teenager: "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you." Quite a departure from the usual tongue-in-cheek hits such as I'm Just A Kid and Shut Up! that the band has been churning out since their debut album, No Pads, No Helmets ... Just Balls, in 2002. While they may sound all grown up now, rest assured that the quintet still consists of the same irreverent jokesters. The band, who last performed in Singapore at Singfest 2008, showed plenty of those qualities while in town last week to showcase the album. At the listening preview session at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore last Friday, members of the band – comprising frontman Pierre Bouvier, 32; lead guitarist Jeff Stinco, 32; drummer Chuck Comeau, 31; guitarist Sebastien Lefebvre, 29; and bassist David Desrosiers, 30 – sauntered into a room full of journalists, clad in bathrobes. Their reason for the unusual outfits? "It's almost bedtime back home in Canada, so we're just getting ready to go to sleep," joked Bouvier. The jet-lagged Desrosiers was taking bedtime seriously. While his other band members enthusiastically fielded questions from the audiences, he snoozed on a beanbag chair and woke up a few times to exclaim: "The music's too loud, man." Quite aptly, Jet Lag is the first hit single off their new album. The upbeat anthem, featuring British singer Natasha Bedingfield, premiered on music charts globally on April 25. Going by the album's other tracks, such as Can't Keep My Hands Off You and the reggae-inspired Summer Paradise, it is easy to see that the band have not lost their signature upbeat, infectious energy. On their collaboration with Bedingfield and other artistes on the album, such as Somalian-Canadian rapper K'Naan and French-Canadian singer Marie-Mai, Stinco said, "We wanted to create a party album. And to have a party, you need to invite lots of people, especially hot girls." Simple Plan started out as a teenage basement band back in their hometown, Montreal, in 1999. With more than 10 years of making music, the band shows no sign of slowing down and moving away from the youth-oriented pop-punk genre. Bouvier told Life!: "Maybe to some people, we don't sound like we've matured much. But I feel that we have matured along with our fans who've been with us since the beginning. "That said, we are still very young at heart, which makes it easy for us to stay in the pop-punk category genre no matter how old we get. Being in this band has allowed us to stay that way because there's no pressure to 'grow up'." – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network Get Your Heart On!, out in stores on June 21, is released by Warner Music (Malaysia). Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Rihanna defends controversial video for 'Man Down' Posted: 02 Jun 2011 06:42 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP): Rihanna is defending her latest music video, which opens with a man being shot in the head. "Man Down" is a song about a girl who shoots her lover in public. It premiered Tuesday on BET. The Parents Television Council called the video "disturbing" and asked BET to stop airing it. On BET's music video countdown show Thursday, Rihanna says the clip is "art with a message." Rihanna was attacked by then-boyfriend Chris Brown in February 2009 and says she doesn't agree with violence. She adds: "I've been abused in the past and you don't see me running around killing people in my spare time." BET says it will keep playing the video. MTV hasn't aired it yet. An MTV representative says the network is reviewing the video. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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