Heavy rain poured down in the afternoon on May 5, 2009, Shanghai. It was the day when Mayday, one of the most popular Taiwanese rock bands, held their DNA Mayday "Creates" Concert in Shanghai Hong Kou football stadium. One minute before the concert started, the set staff in the scene reported on the situations through headsets: “We are ready. Is there any problem in the scene?” “Wire on the main stage gets stuck!” “The giant ball cannot lift!” “Anyone can tackle it down?” “Curtain is ready for falling.” “Not yet. Wait!” “No time left, just drop!” As the brightest lights shined on the stage accompanying fans’ acclamation, the team disappeared in the infinite darkness and chaos.
This appears in the beginning of a documentary film Live in Live (2013) which features which features the behind-the-scene footages, the journey and hardships popular Taiwanese band MayDay been through for their concert tours. “Every live concert is our battlefield” is said by Taiwanese creative executive director Chou Youyang who began taking charge of Mayday’s concerts since 2009, from 2009 World Tour DNA Creates Mayday to 2012 Nowhere World Tour. Every time Chou and his team are dedicated to carrying out their project through well-prepared materials and extraordinary digital technology: there are at least five high definition LCD screens in each live concert according to Chou-the biggest one in the center, two surrounding it and the other two located in the edge which even enable audience purchasing the low-cost concert tickets (they are usually seated either far or in the “blind angle”) to enjoy the audio-visual feast as well; each audience is distributed a LED interactive glow stick before they enter the concert, the color and flashing frequency of whi...
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...l be blamed by thousands of people while when they succeed, they’re already on the way to the next city.” Thus, every pop concert is more than a matter of the stars on stage: it embodies the efforts and professionalism of the behind-the-scene production team, and scrutinizes the introspection and soul-searching of the participants involved as well. As Chou once put it: “Living in live, we are always racing against time. But when light turns on, it’s time to complete our mission. We hope the audience will regard attending Mayday’s live concerts as a sublime experience. ”
Works Cited
Live in live. Dir. Liu Ming Feng, Perf. Mayday. TGV Cinemas, 2013. Film.
“Programme Management of Mayday’s Concerts”. Ryan. Private Ryan. 31 Oct, 2013. Web. 12 March, 2014.
“Mayday realize its Rock Journey”. A Date with Luyu. Phoenix TV, Anhui. 25 April, 2012. Television.
Duong Thu Huong’s novel, ‘Paradise of the Blind’ creates a reflective, often bittersweet atmosphere through the narrator Hang’s expressive descriptions of the landscapes she remembers through her life. Huong’s protagonist emphasises the emotional effects these landscapes have on her, acknowledging, “many landscapes have left their mark on me.”
At one point, while Thile told a story of how growing up in a Christian house hold influenced the religious title of his next song, the stage lights suddenly became extremely bright. Thile’s response to the lighting issue was to shield his eyes while he looked up and ask “God? I’m sorry about the name of the song,” which provided comedic relief to the situation and played well into his bit about his religious song title. Later in the night as Thile spoke about his choice of title for a different song the strap to his mandolin broke suddenly and he managed to catch the instrument in time before it hit the ground; Thile playfully followed the event with “I spent so much money on the Mandolin that I thought I could save some money on the strap,” again, allowing some relief to the potentially devastating incident. The spontaneous and humored performance felt intimate because of Thile’s comfortable and fluent stage presence, allowing his audience to relax and enjoy the
Music week ( 2005) ‘HMV to encourage environmental awareness’ [online] musicweek 27TH of January. Available from http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/hmv-to-encourage-environmental-awareness/027552 [accessed on the 30-3-1014]
The essays Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and Sacha Z. Scoblic’s Rock Star, Meet TeeTotaler are both stories of personal experience. The essays are written in an informal style, yet sophisticated phrasing, as well as confident writing in order to bring out sympathy and understanding from the readers. Both essays are narrated through both author’s own thoughts and feelings throughout their stories, as both become open and personal. The following paragraphs will compare and contrast how both essays have similar themes about overcoming obstacles in life, yet Sacha’s essay is more about the need to fit into society without changing oneself, while Amy’s is disproving assumptions society places on language and what true purpose of language.
Amy Tan’s ,“Mother Tongue” and Maxine Kingston’s essay, “No Name Woman” represent a balance in cultures when obtaining an identity in American culture. As first generation Chinese-Americans both Tan and Kingston faced many obstacles. Obstacles in language and appearance while balancing two cultures. Overcoming these obstacles that were faced and preserving heritage both women gained an identity as a successful American.
Music concerts was another way of passing Dylan's messages to the public. A typical concert performed by Dylan included fifty thousand people in an arena, and another fifty thousand outside of the gates. For the lucky ones, those which were able to enter the concert (either by paying or sneaking in), the concerts are a way which everyone is able to receive the desired message at precisely the same time. Another positive idea about concerts is; by watching someone whom they have been listening to for years, people get a sense of hope, inspiration, and the face behind the name.
In the year 2011, Rigby High School’s Concert Band was coming to the close of another great concert. They were getting to a very dramatic part of the song Ave Maria, and during a break in the melodies, a sharp baby cry was heard throughout the auditorium, followed by a loud yell from a parent. The rest of the concert was a disaster, with conversation and talking heard in the recording. In fact, Rigby has not once gotten a clean recording without conversation and noises in the concerts. People unfortunately do not understand how to behave during concerts of any type. With some concerts and performances, it is ok to vocalize, but concert band is not one of them. To help explain this, concert band will be compared to jazz band in its origins, type, and expectations to show why this type of behavior is unacceptable.
Despite growing up amidst a language deemed as “broken” and “fractured”, Amy Tan’s love for language allowed her to embrace the variations of English that surrounded her. In her short essay “Mother Tongue”, Tan discusses the internal conflict she had with the English learned from her mother to that of the English in her education. Sharing her experiences as an adolescent posing to be her mother for respect, Tan develops a frustration at the difficulty of not being taken seriously due to one’s inability to speak the way society expects. Disallowing others to prove their misconceptions of her, Tan exerted herself in excelling at English throughout school. She felt a need to rebel against the proverbial view that writing is not a strong suit of someone who grew up learning English in an immigrant family. Attempting to prove her mastery of the English language, Tan discovered her writing did not show who she truly was. She was an Asian-American, not just Asian, not just American, but that she belonged in both demographics. Disregarding the idea that her mother’s English could be something of a social deficit, a learning limitation, Tan expanded and cultivated her writing style to incorporate both the language she learned in school, as well as the variation of it spoken by her mother. Tan learned that in order to satisfy herself, she needed to acknowledge both of her “Englishes” (Tan 128).
Some could say dance events are just as fun sober as they are on something. Some could say substances enhance an individual’s festival experience. Either of these opinions could be right, but what remains a fact is that substances are indeed, in one way or another, deeply involved with music. It is not because of the music itself, however influential it may seem, but rather the choice of fans that has caused this. Everyone wants to have a great experience at a music festival. If they are offered a greater experience, then of course they will be open-minded. Although substances may be an experience for some, they may be the divider between life and death for others. From alcohol poisoning at Toby Keith shows and meth use at Metallica concerts, substance abuse has proven to be something widespread and dangerous throughout music festivals (Baca, par. 8). Society can make substances a taboo, say ...
English is an invisible gate. Immigrants are the outsiders. And native speakers are the gatekeepers. Whether the gate is wide open to welcome the broken English speakers depends on their perceptions. Sadly, most of the times, the gate is shut tight, like the case of Tan’s mother as she discusses in her essay, "the mother tongue." People treat her mother with attitudes because of her improper English before they get to know her. Tan sympathizes for her mother as well as other immigrants. Tan, once embarrassed by her mother, now begins her writing journal through a brand-new kaleidoscope. She sees the beauty behind the "broken" English, even though it is different. Tan combines repetition, cause and effect, and exemplification to emphasize her belief that there are more than one proper way (proper English) to communicate with each other. Tan hopes her audience to understand that the power of language- “the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth”- purposes to connect societies, cultures, and individuals, rather than to rank our intelligence.
...y captivating shows. With the way we currently support our music industry, heavy with electronics and special effects, the art of performing live may become lost in the near future.
Rawlinson, J. (2013). Music Festival Tourism Worldwide - International - June 2013. Retrieved 02 28, 2014, from Mintel Report: http://academic.mintel.com/display/643783/
According to Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of “culture” is “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time”. On the other hand, accroding to Raymond Williams, it is more complicated. However, ther is something that is certain: Culture is ordinary, which happens to be the title of an article he wrote to define and explain what culture is.
Without warning, the lights went dark. This was the moment I had been waiting for. My adrenaline went through the roof. The time had finally come that I would get to see and hear my first live concert.
There is an event that I just can describe as one of the most unique and memorable in my life: attending my first concert. After years of listening to Ron Pope’s music, watching his YouTube channel, and following all of his social media accounts, the satisfaction of seeing someone whose music has been the soundtrack to my life for so long was unreal. There were moments that I had to internally remind myself that this is, in fact, happening in real life. Being a dedicated (some may say eccentrically so) fan is tough work – and I was rewarded with two hours of pure magic for one night. Attending my first concert was a unique event that I will always remember fondly because of the atmosphere, the amazing performance and the sense of connection