Saturday, September 1, 2018

"Travel" and Perception

It is kind of interesting how two people can see the same artist put on a set at a club or festival and come away with completely different impressions of the show. It's almost like, "were we both at the same show??"

It seems to be kind of like life in a microcosm, though. If you don't "travel" (in the case of a show or festival, either move around the room or, when at the edge of the room while going to from the bar or restroom, observing the entire room rather than just the one pocket you and your group are in, that night), you don't really take in that there's a difference between the broader-scope and your particular part of it.

Last night's Alison Wonderland show was a good case in point. I'd say that her set left me cold, but anger-inducing disappointment doesn't feel "cold" to me. SongKick sent me a "how was last night's show" link to leave a review. I left my honest opinion of the show. Afterwards, I looked at others' review of the show. To say that differences of opinion were "stark" is an understatement.

By the reviews, there were clearly a lot of people that enjoyed themselves. And, on my trips to the bar and bathroom, it was clear to my eyes that there were, indeed, pockets of people that clearly liked the show.

...Just as there were clearly pockets of people that were pretty much completely disengaged. To the people that were in those "happy with it" pockets that never really left those pockets (when you're rolling, I guess you don't really need to worry about hitting the bar) or never bothered to look beyond their pocket, it would be easy to think that, like at better shows, "the entire room" was into it. Basically, lack of perspective from lack of "travel" or desire to observe other than what's immediately in around them (or the act on stage). ...Or, other impairment effectively creates tunnel-vision (see prior aside about "rolling").

Life — on any given scale — is probably a lot easier that way. It means that only your little cocoon really matters.

/shrug

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