And...........Win

Garret from Senses Fail has written on his blog about shows being ruined (and not even being that good in the first place) by tons of lights.

Stop With The Fucking Lights...

I can’t remember when we first started encountering bands bringing light “rigs” to shows, but it sucks.

We just got off the Saints and Sinners tour which featured a very talented iPod-playing group (they were really good at hitting Play) that needed their high-school-dance lights every day or else their “show” would be fucked. The lights faced towards the crowd, so you couldn’t see the fucking retards on stage flailing around in their rainbow attire…That was annoying.

Yesterday, we were in Edmonton, AB with an opening band who spent an hour laying tons of extension cords around the venue and stage. All that just to power their shitty fucking strobe lights. I didn’t watch them play.

Whatever happened to just putting on a good show by being a good live band? Don’t get me wrong— I enjoy when a band has an actual lighting person running a professional light show to go along with what that band already does well. Those bands can also afford it (sometimes) because they did something right and enough people come to see them.

Also, stop fucking listing the guy that pushes the faders on your dimmer board as a band member. Most of you assholes aren’t even a band and lights aren’t instruments.

Running MIDI light systems are just as fucking dumb. It still results in a disco show. It gives me AIDS.

I’d like to just hear the guitar riffs …not see them as if you were an opened bag of Skittles.

I bet the commission earned in the shitty DJ section at Guitar Center, the section most people don’t even know exists, is beating out the Guitar Amp section these days.

If you think you’re boring live when you just play your instruments, then maybe it’s just cause your band sucks.


They're have been a few shows where I really would have liked to kick the plug on strobe lights (Atreyu, Underoath), and some shows that with really simple and tactful lighting, totally enhanced the performance aspect of their show (Norma Jean).