When was the last time you actually sat and listened to an album? When I say ‘listened’, I mean stopped doing other things and really paid attention to the music.
Today, I went to a gig as part of the Brighton Festival called Played Twice: Miles Davis Kind of Blue, where – for the first half of the show – an audience of more than 400 sat and listened in rapt silence to a vinyl recording of what has been called the greatest jazz album ever.
The atmosphere was electric. It was a communal experience – so many people all sitting quietly concentrating on the music and nothing else – no phones, no chatting, nothing.
I’ve been to gigs before. I’ve been to jazz concerts before. But to sit with so many people and listen to a ‘record’ – not a live performance – was something quite special.
If you want to experience something similar, Played Twice happens regularly in London.
Very interesting, I wonder if not having performers to distract the audience made everyone need to just concentrate on the sound? Personally, I can’t do anything else when I have music on; my brain can only pay attention to that, there is no such thing as background music that I can work to…
Very possibly, Susan. The second half of the event featured a jazz group performing their own reinterpretation of the album, which made for an interesting counterpoint.