2012 was a great year for live performance there was lots of old heroes coming back to do it, there was more money involved in it, the technology became more complex and image became a major influence. 2012 was a year that made me think of how image actually influences live performance in this article I will be going back in time and will be exploring the history and comparing how image effects live performance now and how it used to effects then.
Tupac Hologram
The tupac hologram marked a new step for technology, even though technology grew rapidly in the last 20 years. For those who never saw the performance of 2012 with Snoop Dogg, tupac and dr dre and for those who have seen it, it's still hard to believe how amazing the event was, this is because tupac came to join the party. Although Tupac never resurrected the producers of the event managed to make a $100,000 hologram version of Tupac. So people don't freak out the tupac hologram version is a recording from his 1996 performance at the house of blues. Tupac's performance live at the house of blues had standard LED lights and a projector that had house of blues written in white. At that time visuals was a major part of performance, so now I want to go deeper than that, earlier than that to explain how we see live performance developed with time.
Major Equipment In Live Performance
LED Lighting:
Electroluminescence which is what LED technology was built upon was discovered in 1907 by a british radio researcher and his assistant. Henry Joseph made an experiment with silicon carbide and a cats whisker. During the 1920's a radio researcher Oleg Vladimirovich was studying what electroluminescence is, and in 1927 he published a paper called Luminous Carborundum even though this didn't create the original LED light it became a major influence to the future of LED lighting. In 1962 Nick Holonyack a engineer for an electronic company invented the first visible light, it was red LED. A few years later LED light went on to be developed and now it is a major equipment for live performance. Now in the 21st century LED light has many shapes, many sizes and can be controlled through many devices and in some cases it reacts to sound.
Video Panel:
A video panel is a LED display. Within a video panel there is groups of red, green and blue diodes and it operates together to form a full coloured pixel mostly in a square shape. Though this is used for a lot of different things it is now the most useful piece of equipment in live performance. Whether you use them for display of a video or have your bands name written in a large display.
Smoking Machine:
A smoking machine in live performance is very useful, the reason why the smoking machine is so useful is because the smoke that the machine provides helps to section the lights making the LED lights more visible for the audience to see. The smoke machine works by heating up propylene glycol and triethylene glycol mixed with 20% of water. This makes the smoke spread out quite similar to a cigarette or smoke on fire without causing any side effects or injuries.
Live Performance During The 60s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcYrmYeyFsM
During the 60's, performances was based more on how the band sounded, the focus also was more on the audience. The people going to see live performance during the 60's were more worried about having fun, dancing, more then actually seeing people perform live. As the years went on equipment and technology became more advanced, stage performances went from being at the centre to the front of the venue. Everything that was being created gave focus to the performer. 30 years later technology became a must in live performances.
Live Performance During The 90s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb4qyuR7_cc
Live performances during the 90's were quite different due to a lot of people experimenting with new sounds, new image and new style of music. The 90's was also a great year for visuals, bands like guns and roses and performers like michael jackson were all very extreme in terms of finding new ways to showcase their image. Although these are not the people I will be talking about, if you do watch any performances during the 90's you would see how advanced technology became. A band that I really want to focus on is 9 inch nails and the reason I want to talk about them is because they always had a step ahead when it came to visuals. In 1994's wood stock event they amazed me with the amount of things they had going on stage, but what was unique about them was that there was songs that made audience focus on the singer and other songs that made you focus on the lyrics. But that is not unique, what was unique was that they made the visuals and the lights influence the audience on wether they wanted the audience to focus on the singer or the song.
How The Media Uses It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwNOO9N5lM
Years went by and what once was knew became old, but one thing that didn't age was 9 inch nails style of visuals in their 90's. Their style of using visuals in their performances can still be seen today in almost every music reality show. For example: in this video Bruno Mars sings a song about love and if we were to stand there watching him perform that song without any of the visual effects we would not pay attention to the lyrics. But what is very interesting about this performance was that the video reacts to the drums, making it seem much more dramatic then what it is.
Next Step For Live Performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbuQuvoc0YE
Were in the year 2013 and what is really exciting is, as time goes on technology gets more and more advanced, and as for the visual side of performance it gets more and more complicated but yet simple for our minds to react to music and visuals as one piece. This video with Flying Lotus shows how people in this era are writing songs to match visuals, and how performers are now trying to get the audience to see what's in their minds with video technology.
Major Equipment In Live Performance
LED Lighting:
Electroluminescence which is what LED technology was built upon was discovered in 1907 by a british radio researcher and his assistant. Henry Joseph made an experiment with silicon carbide and a cats whisker. During the 1920's a radio researcher Oleg Vladimirovich was studying what electroluminescence is, and in 1927 he published a paper called Luminous Carborundum even though this didn't create the original LED light it became a major influence to the future of LED lighting. In 1962 Nick Holonyack a engineer for an electronic company invented the first visible light, it was red LED. A few years later LED light went on to be developed and now it is a major equipment for live performance. Now in the 21st century LED light has many shapes, many sizes and can be controlled through many devices and in some cases it reacts to sound.
Video Panel:
A video panel is a LED display. Within a video panel there is groups of red, green and blue diodes and it operates together to form a full coloured pixel mostly in a square shape. Though this is used for a lot of different things it is now the most useful piece of equipment in live performance. Whether you use them for display of a video or have your bands name written in a large display.
Smoking Machine:
A smoking machine in live performance is very useful, the reason why the smoking machine is so useful is because the smoke that the machine provides helps to section the lights making the LED lights more visible for the audience to see. The smoke machine works by heating up propylene glycol and triethylene glycol mixed with 20% of water. This makes the smoke spread out quite similar to a cigarette or smoke on fire without causing any side effects or injuries.
Live Performance During The 60s
During the 60's, performances was based more on how the band sounded, the focus also was more on the audience. The people going to see live performance during the 60's were more worried about having fun, dancing, more then actually seeing people perform live. As the years went on equipment and technology became more advanced, stage performances went from being at the centre to the front of the venue. Everything that was being created gave focus to the performer. 30 years later technology became a must in live performances.
Live Performance During The 90s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb4qyuR7_cc
How The Media Uses It
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwNOO9N5lM
Years went by and what once was knew became old, but one thing that didn't age was 9 inch nails style of visuals in their 90's. Their style of using visuals in their performances can still be seen today in almost every music reality show. For example: in this video Bruno Mars sings a song about love and if we were to stand there watching him perform that song without any of the visual effects we would not pay attention to the lyrics. But what is very interesting about this performance was that the video reacts to the drums, making it seem much more dramatic then what it is.
Next Step For Live Performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbuQuvoc0YE
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