progressive bluegrass supergroup punch brothers H u m a n i t i e s

Recently the hard-rock supergroup A Perfect Circle made headlines for having forcibly removed over 60 audience members at a concert in Pennsylvania. These patrons violated the band’s long standing rule stating no photographs, audio, or video recordings may be taken at any time during the show. Singer Maynard Keenan later explained on Instagram, “No. Recording. Of. Any. Kind. For. 25. Years. Guided experience. Unplug and enjoy the ride.” Read the article from Metal Injection (http://goo.gl/GVk81T (Links to an external site.)) for more information regarding this event.

Similarly, years ago at a live show by the progressive bluegrass supergroup Punch Brothers in a small crowded club, an audience member yelled to the band to ‘turn it up’ so they could better hear over the chatter and background noise in the club. To which, band frontman Chris Thile replied, “Listen harder.” While no one was kicked out of the show, Thile’s comment seemed to imply that he wanted a more engaged audience, which also appears to be the wishes of A Perfect Circle.

Meanwhile, bands like Phish and Dave Matthews Band allow recording and photographs of their concerts and in some cases even provide a platform for distributing such recordings online. Other mainstream pop artists don’t explicitly permit photographs and recording but also do not actively enforce a no-recording policy and thrive on the online exposure that comes with fans sharing their photographs and recordings. Additionally, audiences of mainstream pop superstars frequently scream, cheer, sing, and socialize during the performance, which are all part of an entirely different form of audience engagement.

What does Maynard Keenan mean when he says, “Guided experience. Unplug and enjoy the ride.”? How would you feel about paying upwards of $80 for a concert ticket and then being told you may not document your experience? Does, or should, this Guided-experience-unplug-and-enjoy-the-ride concept apply to other mainstream pop performances? And lastly, do you believe that “unplugging” does or does not create a more engaged audience?

Choose at least one classmates and create a post responding to his/her initial post on the Discussion Board.