4 ms·

I feel like live music in general is at a low point right now that I've never seen it at since I started paying attention in the '80s. I'm in England at the mo

I feel like live music in general is at a low point right now that I've never seen it at since I started paying attention in the '80s. I'm in England at the moment, and for the last several years all the band listings I see at bars are for one of the ten thousand "Tribute to the Mildly Popular Band from the 70s/80s". So if I want the Thin Lizzy experience or the Foreigner/Journey experience or the genuine-in-case-you-missed-it-the-first-time Ratt experience, you can get it six nights out of the week because that's all that's playing at every bar in town. But there are no bands with stupid names playing their own crappy stuff. Even on a Tuesday night. And that's what I miss.

jdietrich 8y ago
Older people are still going to gigs, they have plenty of disposable income and they want to see the stuff they grew up with. Younger people have many more options for making and sharing music. If you were born in 2000, starting a rock band seems a bit retro - you might do it if you're into that sort of thing, but you might prefer to play solo gigs with a looper or do weird ambient stuff with modular synths on YouTube. There's no shortage of talented young musicians, they're just doing things differently.