At recent gigs, the emphasis on visual aesthetics over musical depth puzzles me.

Light shows overshadow songwriting. Sound should lead, not spectacle.

3 comments

3 Comments

I read an interview where a touring stage manager said their current show allocates 60% of the pre-production budget to the visual package... lasers, screens, motion rigs. The actual audio system and tuning was an afterthought line item. Reminds me of how The Beatles stopped touring because the screaming crowds made the music irrelevant... feels like we've swapped screaming fans for blinding lights, same result. The song becomes just a soundtrack to the spectacle.

kelly.wyatt12d ago

Ngl you're missing the point entirely. That visual budget creates immersive experiences that recorded music alone can't deliver. Look at Travis Scott's Astroworld or Beyoncé's Renaissance tour, where the spectacle becomes the emotional language of the performance. It's like saying silent films were pure because they had no sound, ignoring how talkies evolved the art form. The show is the total package now, not just a band playing chords.

ben_jenkins6110d ago

Question where that tipping point is for you, where the visual package stops helping the song and starts covering for it. Using your examples, at what moment in a Travis Scott set do the flames and rage become the whole point, and could a weaker track get by just on that energy?