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Published by: Skylark on 18th Dec 2011 | View all blogs by Skylark

I started the evening watching Michael Buble, feeling all warm and fuzzy (and a wee bit Christmassy). When it finished , I flicked over to BBC and caught coverage of Take That's 'Progress' Tour. It's quite a show. The production that's gone into it is quite astounding. But what a waste! Energy, water, paper....lost count but I had to turn off in the end because it was annoying me so much. I'm probably a killjoy. But it brought to mind scenes from The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) - the citizens of the Capitol enjoying outrageously extravagant lifestyles and entertainment at the expense of the poor people who are forced to scratch a living in the outlying Districts. And the point is that a good entertainer doesn't need all that production. Michael Buble was spinetinglingly brilliant, without any strobe lights, flame throwing machines or fountains. And, for that matter, the best moment of the Take That show that I watched was when Robbie Williams sang by himself with nothing to look at but him. Raw energy, a stunning voice, no gimmicks and he had several thousand people right there with him in the moment. The rest of the show was just ridiculous.

Comments

22 Comments

by Noodledoodle 5 months ago

Buble was superb and there were no tacky gimmicks, as for Take That - they can Keep That. I think the whole world saw the preparations for their tour at some point or other, extravagance at its worst, although I like the band (a bit).
by MinxieAD 5 months ago

Do you remember Val Doonican's Christmas Specials. His expenses ran to a woolly jumper and a new pair of slippers... They were simple shows, which probably cost very little, but the sentiment was a nice one and Val entertained without the need for strobe lighting.

I'm not keen on Buble or Take That (don't shout) so didn't watch either programme, but agree with you entirely. If you have the voice, you really don't need to fill in with gimmicks in order to entertain an audience.
by RichardB 5 months ago

Reminds me of the disgust I felt at the story told by W O Bentley (the car man) about Woolf Barnato, one of the 'Bentley Boys,' the rich young chaps who used to drive his cars at Le Mans in the twenties. At a time when a working man thought he was lucky if he was earning £3 a week, Barnato was known to spend £1200 on throwing *one party.*
by Caducean Whisks 5 months ago

Couldn't agree more. Except that Le Buble doesn't do much for me, nor Take That; I watched the appealing Brian Cox explaining Quantum Theory instead. His props were a blackboard and chalk, a skipping rope, a fish tank of water and a plank with two slits in it. Oh, and a million pound diamond. Apart from that, total budget must have been at least, oooh, fifty quid tops?
by Caducean Whisks 5 months ago

... and a bucket of sand and some washing up liquid. And a lighter.
by Skylark 5 months ago

I have Brian Cox on the PVR to watch when husband gets home from helping his mum and dad move house - I promised I wouldn't watch it without him. Sounds like it was good though :-)
by Skylark 5 months ago

ND - I also like Take That (just a little) and as it happened, I flicked back to it before I went to bed and caught the show at a point when the were all sitting around a piano, Gary playing and Robbie back with the boys, singing some of their old numbers and nothing else was going on and it was magic. So why all the earlier extravagance? So unnecessary.

Minxie - each to their own, I'm not saying I have good taste in music ;-) Buble's show last night was a bit Val Doonican-like. All warm and cosy and simple.

Richard - good example, and there are plenty of examples like that these days too of people spending in one night what some people will never earn close to in a year.
by AlanP 5 months ago

As you might imagine I did it my way. James May followed by Brian Cox.
by Skylark 5 months ago

That's my husband's idea of a good night too :-D
by Deli 5 months ago

I watched Black Mirror (last of the trilogy)..summed society up quite succinctly...As for Michael Bubble-Bath, och nooo. Never liked Take That.....
by Old Fat Prop 5 months ago

Am I to understand that Euro-zone isn,t another Irish boy band?
by Kate7 5 months ago

Rather fancy watching the hunger games, looks interesting.
by Skylark 5 months ago

Deli, I haven't heard of Black Mirror - what is it?

OFP - not sure which is worse!

Kate - Depends if they're going to ruin a stunning book. I've stopped going to watch films of books after too many disappointments.
by Tony 5 months ago

Don't forget Val's Aran sweater. That could have doubled the budget.
by Gerilyn 5 months ago

I bloomin missed Buble- totally forgot what night of the week it was and so hid away upstairs 'pottering' while the husband watched darts! I hope it'll be repeated. I was really looking forward to it too :(
by Skylark 5 months ago

You might be able to get it on ITVplayer - or whatever it's called...??
by Gerilyn 5 months ago

Ah right- I shall google.....
by MarkR 5 months ago

Buble is god IMHO, but I thought the Christmas show a bit cheesy. He's still god, just needs to focus on proper singing and less hamming it up.

Mariah Carey christmas album is unbeatable anymway.
by Wrathnar the Unreasonable 5 months ago

All the fancy effects in the world can't make up for the fact that Take That and similar vapid pop groups make bland, vacuous music to appeal to the lowest common denominator. The last gig I went to was Blue Oyster Cult - they used no stage effects whatsoever, and were utterly mesmerising, simply because of the originality and skill of their spectacular music.

Alan: I watched Brian Cox as well, I was impressed at how simply and clearly he kersplained the basis of quantum theory, and wished he could have gone on from there into further aspects, such as common misperceptions about Schrodinger's 'cat paradox' and the conflicts between quantum theory and classical physics.
by Skylark 5 months ago

Mark - yes very cheesy :-) Loved it! Hehehe. Not sure I can be doing with Mariah Carey though - a bit too much embellishment for my taste.

Wrathy - yes, very true. My music tastes are varied - from Classical to Jazz to Pop and including *blushes* pop groups of the vapid variety. Ah well, that's my (occasional) guilty pleasure. But I agree with you that the best music needs no fancy effects - that's kind of the point I was making really.
by MarkR 5 months ago

Skylark - Mariah's embellished pretty well from where I'm standing...HoHoHo ;-)
by Skylark 5 months ago

:-P