Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The Most Precious Gift We Could Give

February 20, 2012


Sharing The Most Precious Gift I Could Give with some friends in Rome

Over the course of my lifetime there's been a seismic shift in the live concert experience. When I was a kid, almost everybody went to hear an artist play new music sprinkled with popular hits. Most of a set was comprised of songs the artists were working on or had just recorded. The live show was an opportunity to feel an audience's response to new music.

In the current zeitgeist, when an artist performs unknown material many people use this time to go to the bathroom. Is our time too valuable to experience the unknown?

Yesterday, I watched a TV special on musician Peter Frampton. His 1976 album Frampton Comes Alive sold 18x's Platinum. It was a live album and until it was performed and recorded, most of the world had never heard those songs. Today that could never happen! But there was a time when lending our collective ears to an artist was The Most Precious Gift We Could Give.


Frampton Comes Alive sold 18 Million in the US alone!


I saw Jimi Hendrix play new music Live


I saw Sly & The Family Stone play new music Live


I saw The Jackson 5 play new music Live


I saw The Mahavishnu Orchestra play new music Live


I saw Parliament Funkadelic play new music Live


I saw Miles Davis play new music Live


I saw The Stooges play new music Live


On CHIC's early tours, most of our music was unknown and it was The Most Precious Gift We Could Give