Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Serenity Gardens (02.11.19)

A quick screen grab from last night's fun show at Serenity Gardens.

I certainly want to tell you about last night's show at Serenity Gardens... about half my set were songs I'd never performed before or those that are very rare in my list. But first, I want to mention an interesting little micro-controversy that popped up last week.

I was scrolling down my Twitter feed when I saw a post from the EDM artist Marshmello where he was talking about a concert he'd done in the video game Fortnite.


The key phrase I saw were the words "first ever virtual concert", and for those of you who know me, that was akin to waving a red flag in front of a bull. Making matters much worse was the way some of the media then ran with the story.


Well, I got... slightly annoyed.



That probably wasn't the best way to react, and I'll explain why. It's very telling that after more than 15 years of virtual music performances in multiple platforms, Marshmello's statement and the acceptance of it from the public and media indicates clearly that the concept of virtual/remote music concerts has not permeated the awareness of the majority of people. I honestly don't think that Marshmello was aware that there have been thousands and thousands of virtual shows before his. I think he was led to believe that what he said was true, which was unfortunate, and left him in a position of having to defend the claim.

The Early Years
Virtual live music performances started happening almost at the moment that Internet bandwidth became wide enough to allow for the realtime streaming of audio. It actually goes back to the mid '90s, when various kinds of chat platforms (Paltalk, etc.) began allowing for streamed audio. As soon as streaming audio is a possibility, people begin using it for live performances in combination with use of avatars. The tech has obviously improved; audio quality has gotten better as bandwidth has grown. The ability to create high-resolution virtual environments and realistic avatars makes the experience feel more real today than ever before. But make no mistake; people have been doing this for over 20 years.

Big Names
One of the arguments in regard to Marshmello's Fortnite show was that he was the first "relevant" artist to do a virtual show of any kind. Au contraire... artists and bands like Suzanne Vega, Duran Duran, U2, and David Bowie all did various kinds of virtual shows in different platforms going back about 15 years. I'm sure that Marshmello has a big following among EDM fans today, but let's face it; he's not a "bigger" artist than several of the aforementioned.

But let's look at the big picture for a moment. Music is music. Some artists are household names, and others are barely known even in small circles. But if someone is performing live music for an audience in another location within an artificial environment created by computers, they are part of this world as well. This would be where I mention Second Life, the platform where I have done the majority of my performances since starting in 2006, and that I wrote about in Electronic Musician magazine back in 2008. I believe that over 1,000 different artists have done performances in SL over the nearly 16 years it has existed, and that continual flow of live music has, for many people, been one of the highlights of their virtual experiences in that time frame. To negate their efforts would be unfair, to put it mildly.

I Get Interviewed
A day or two after I lashed out at Marshmello (probably too harshly, I reiterate), I got contacted by a polite and pleasant woman from the UK named Emma McGann. She said that she was a fellow musician, and was writing a blog article on the future of music in VR. I gladly spoke to her, and gave her permission to use some images. I really had no idea that her article would end up being a very well-researched and well-written piece, published on Medium, that took a look at several of the many forms of virtual/remote performances. I was impressed. And that led me to another thought, which I can share with you now.

Marshmello's Show Was Good For Us All
The fact is that Marshmello (as a relatively popular artist in a certain genre) having done his show in Fortnite (a very popular gaming platform for a certain populace) was great for the future of virtual music performances of all sorts. There are reportedly 80 million users of Fortnite, and literally millions of them were able to experience Marshmello's show. Those people -- many of them young -- are now aware that virtual concerts are a real thing, and perhaps the aspect of getting people to attend other virtual shows on other platforms (games and otherwise) will be easier due to this breakthrough of public awareness. The tech is less cutting edge than what we were dealing with in the early days of these platforms that were not at all designed for live music. More people can easily participate and get an uninterrupted concert experience than ever before. So perhaps instead of calling Marshmello names and feeling slighted, the better move would be to thank him for opening this door to bigger and better shows for us all.

Hey, Didn't You Do A Virtual Show Just Last Night?
Yes, thanks for reminding me. After some schedule shuffling, we're finally back into our regular routine of bi-weekly Monday night shows at Serenity Gardens. I don't have to mention that it's a great place to both play and see live music. The people who run the place are super supportive and very welcoming to everyone who comes by. I never feel any pressure to stick to any certain style or genre of music there, which is nice and freeing for me as an artist.

There was no particular reason that I chose this show to debut so many songs I'd never played before. It just worked out that way. Additionally, I reached a little deeper into my repertoire and did a couple of other songs that usually don't leave the bottom of the pile. All in all, I think it was a nice refresher for my crowd. I always want to be sure that they know my shows aren't like a record stuck on "repeat". I try and make every single show a little different in various ways.

Serenity Gardens set list...
One of These Things First (Nick Drake)
Loading Zones (Kurt Vile)
Carey (Joni Mitchell)
Pickles (Zak Claxton)
*Year of the Cat (Al Stewart)
Blew the Dust Away (They Stole My Crayon)
The Waiting Boy (Zak Claxton)
*Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
*I Feel the Earth Move (Carole King)
The Loner (Neil Young)
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
It’s Good to be King (Tom Petty)
*Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon)

*Indicates the first time I've performed this song in SL.

Big thanks to every single person who attended my show, with special kudos to the following who helped support it!
Rosie Arnaz, Jaron Metaluna, Tyche Szondi, Trouble Streeter, go2smoky Resident, dirkdanger11 Resident, Kat Chauveau, shaggycritter Resident, Asimia Heron, my lovely manager Maali Beck, and the fabulous team at Serenity Gardens, Tilly Rose and Ilsa Wilde.
Posted by Zak Claxton at 12:52 PM

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