On Monday, four sleeps before Big Day Out, headlining act The Black Keys cancelled their appearance, citing exhaustion. Now, I know playing music is tiring. Bruce Springsteen is known for his three hour sets, during which he plays several instruments, sings every song, runs up and down the stage, even knee-sliding and windmilling; and all of this in his sixties. Bob Dylan, who turns seventy this year, has been touring non-stop since 1988. During his Bat Out Of Hell tour, Meatloaf frequently passed out on stage from physical exertion. The Black Keys, on the other hand, are aged thirty and thirty-one, and they play the blues. Their tour began last year. And the slot they were scheduled to play was fifty minutes long.
There are so many things wrong with this picture. In the same week Mos Def "postpones" his show because a band member is unwell, NZ concert-goers can't help but feel we just aren't taken seriously as a market and, by extension, an audience. This is more true of the market to which these musicians appeal - Leonard Cohen treated his fans to an extended show last year which received rave reviews; Lily Allen, by contrast, played her Big Day Out set with a cigarette hanging from one hand, a drink in the other, and a glazed expression that suggested the minimum wage her young fans had saved up to see her had gone straight to the Headhunters' sales division.
By perpetuating a capitalist system where exchange-value far exceeds use-value, we have to accept some responsibility for rockstar behaviour, even when it goes against our 'harden up' natures. But as consumers, we have to assert the power of our dollars. We are paying substantial amounts to see artists play venues where we can't even take our own water, and when they let us down with lack-lustre performances or no-shows, what are we going to do about it? What can we do about it? Have your say.
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