I love this video. I love every god damn thing about it. The impassive german audience. The obvious lip-synching. The egregious disco ball sparkles in every frame of the video. Her performance: the clothes, the dancing, the singing.
Turns out, Alicia Bridges was (and is) kind of a badass:
Welcome To Alicia Bridges’ World of Rock, Leather, Lace, Dance, Country, Blues, and Folk Fused Into One Highly Charged Blend of FauxDiva XX; Where What You See Is Not Always What You Get. She founded FDXXcwp to share her world of creativity with other souls that love music. Alicia Bridges has dedicated her life to truthful expression and artistic freedom.
Now that song is stuck in my head! Thanks for the info on the singer, thoush. She sounds amazing.
That reminds me of a couple of DVDs I borrowed from a prof recently on Fela Kuti. In one, he’s performing in France. The (largely white) audience is dancing, getting into it, etc. It looked like he was playing in a club of some kind. The other had a performance from Germany (the one where he announced his run for the Nigerian presidency). The audience was very… orderly! It was in a larger venue with seats, though, so that had something to do with it, not just the old stereotype about German orderliness!
There are even regional differences in the States. For example, I’ve read that classical performers love to play in the Midwest, because we give almost every performance a standing ovation (drives me NUTS!). They feel so appreciated here, but it’s just the style of audience participation that is normal here.
And as far as I know she is still performing this song. Good on her. (I mean, I get how musicians can get sick of their signature songs and refuse to perform them live but I have always felt this is a selfish attitude.)
I posted this video on Twitter a few weeks ago and some Germans replied this is a “normal” audience reaction in Germany. Dunno if that was true in the late 1970s only or today as well?
I figured it was a quirk of the audience but I love the disparity between the performance and the reaction to it too. She’s performing for the joy of performing – if anyone else enjoys it, great.
They have to tell the audience to not clap between movements. Still, I get the feeling that only half the audience at classical concerts enjoys the music, and the other half were basically dragged there by their significant other.
There is a huge difference between moving around in the middle of an energetic dancing crowd (or relaxing on the couches at the sidelines of a small venue) vs being stuck stuck for hours crammed into an uncomfortable chair.
The crowd in this video looks to me almost like one that got something completely different than what they expected and don’t quite know what they think of it yet. (As if they went out for country & western night without knowing the club had switched Wednesday to disco night that week.)
I think it’s the latter. Some orchestras even promote “blue jeans nights” to make it easier.
Although, my dad who listens to classical music tried to surprise my mom with season tickets one year when I was a child. She claims to find classical irritating, rather than soothing, so I got lucky that year and wound up being his +1.
My Spotify is chock full of punk, post-punk, and alternative, but I remember that being one of my favorite memories from childhood.
I like orchestral music, but literal classical music (orchestral music from the classical period) is probably my least favorite. I do enjoy some of the late Mozart symphonies, but prefer baroque (if it’s done right) and romantic era music.
My Playlist has everything. Almost literally everything. Brit pop, hip-hop, doo-wop, experimental, free jazz, folk, punk, metal, cheesy 70s songs, and at least three varieties of country. I’m definitely not one of those people who is scared and confused by any music they didn’t grow up with. I’ve known many many people of that mindset, and I don’t understand it at all.
I think that USED to be true, but not so much anymore. Now, there isn’t as much social pressure to go to events tailored to one’s socio-economic level. Financial institutions all rent skyboxes to take their favored clients to sporting and concert events in stadiums. Not very many companies subscribe to box seats at the opera and symphony for the same function. That tells me that people with money now feel comfortable going to what they want to go to rather than having to ‘prove’ that they are cultured.
The empty seats in concert/opera halls that used to always be sold out is another clue. People don’t feel they have to support the arts anymore, so they only go if they actually want to go.
Older people tend to support the arts more than younger people, but I don’t know why that is. I’m not sure if younger people are less likely to attend orchestral concerts, but it wouldn’t surprise me, because of cuts to arts funding in public education.
Also, socioeconomic pressure to support the arts seems to be more of a Northeastern thing. Most other places don’t care if you’re the “right kind of people” or not. They’ve caught on that who you are is more important than who your grandparents were.
Because colleges and arts organizations have made agreements with each other (around here, at least), there are a large number of students who go to fine arts concerts because they can get tickets for around $5. Especially for works created in the 20th and 21st century, the audiences are largely young…with most of the seats being empty.
It’s been my experience that everyone, everywhere in the US gives a standing ovation to almost all live stage performance, no matter how mediocre or tremendous. I have always chalked it up to the audience wanting to be an active participant in the performance, and they only have one line that they can deliver or part to play.
I see it every now and then in better L.A. movie theaters. At least there’s a ghost of a chance that someone from the cast or crew is in the audience.
The 3rd time I saw Fellowship of the Ring was at the Cinerama Dome, and Dominic Monaghan was seated a couple rows behind me. His date cheered when Merry appeared on screen. When I glanced back, he was sinking down into his seat like he wanted to die.
