{"id":14430,"date":"2017-10-20T22:15:52","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T21:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=14430"},"modified":"2017-10-20T22:15:52","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T21:15:52","slug":"the-drive-thru-music-trend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/the-drive-thru-music-trend\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drive Thru Music Trend"},"content":{"rendered":"
Words: Kiera Chapman | Subbing: Joanne Clark<\/h6>\n

I\u2019ll have my beats to go please, with a side order of chips.<\/span><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s half past ten and I\u2019m wedged between two human walls of sweat, crunching melodically side to side on crumpled plastic cups to the pulsating Supercut<\/em>. It\u2019s a song performed by the phenomenal Lorde; she\u2019s playing out her London date of at Alexandra Palace and has been swanning euphorically around the stage for just over an hour now.<\/span><\/p>\n

As far as headliner sets go, and judging by the prominence of Supercut<\/em> on her 2017 album Melodrama<\/em>, the performance indicates that the end of the night is nigh, but still a good twenty minutes away. I\u2019m suddenly thrust forward into a space that has opened up beside me by a bunch of intoxicated\u00a0 White Teeth Teens<\/em>. It appears people are already starting to leave. An attendee nonchalantly shrugs past, \u201cI\u2019m not too fussed – I\u2019ve heard it all before. Let\u2019s go home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I am shocked. Evidently, he is not waiting for that Green Light<\/em>, nor does he want it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Melodrama by Kiera Chapman<\/p><\/div>\n

The live event industry is in it\u2019s prime: UK Music\u2019s study, Wish You Were Here<\/i>, found that audience numbers had hit 30.9 million, up from 27.7 million in 2015, with 4 million people<\/a> attending the ever-growing number of British music festivals in 2016.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, it appears that our attitudes when it comes to going to gigs is changing. Whilst we\u2019re more than happy to go, we also more than happy to limit our time there. In an image conscious world where being seen is outstandingly important, sometimes it\u2019s enough to say that we\u2019ve gone. If you can create enough content to satisfy an Instagram story and a VSCO<\/em> filter, then you\u2019re good to catch the last train home. This is a behavioural habit that is reminiscent of how we handle our food – we suit something instant and on the go; a quick fix so we are able to get on with our \u2018lives\u2019. Hence why another Shake Shack has weaved its way to Leicester Square.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Shake It, Baby by Kiera Chapman<\/p><\/div>\n

Zac Mahrouche, 20, is a fashion and music photographer with an indulgent record collection and passion for live events. Yet even he notices a cultural shift in the way we view gigs and, as a victim\u00a0 <\/span>of the internet age, is guilty of a few of these habits himself. \u201cI usually arrive for my own convenience. There\u2019s a general cultural shift to everything being immediate, influencing us to rush experiences. As a kid, I would want to see every single act even if I didn\u2019t know their name.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The variety of concerts to choose from doesn\u2019t aid the shift in our attitude towards gigs – it doesn\u2019t help that a large number of tickets ending up on resale sites at ridiculous prices. Singers such as Adele and Ed Sheeran have spoken publicly, expressing fruition with the evasive system – despite her best efforts, 2016 Adele tickets still managed to make their way online, with some being sold at a staggering \u00a39,000 each.<\/span><\/p>\n

As an artist manager for Ferocious Talent, Ben Bushell, 23, dedicates a large amount of time to gigs. Bushell strongly feels that the fleeting flocks of fake fans are predominantly down to the way tickets are distributed and resold.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would he ever personally re-sell a ticket? \u201cI would offer the tickets to my friends. I can\u2019t stand people selling them online secondhand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He also highlights a major problem with corporate companies – how they\u2019re being given handfuls of great tickets and using them as business perks with free drinks. \u201cThey are sending middle aged businessmen to gigs where they have no idea who the act, and then talk all the way through the set. Its a pain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Alexandra Palace’s lights glide form an icy blue to a neon green indicate the end of the show. It\u2019s nearing eleven and as Lorde leaves, so do I, carried by in a hustle free crowd. <\/span><\/p>\n

At a gig, moments of silence are rare, but it seems that seeing through – let alone over staying – your welcome is even rarer.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words: Kiera Chapman | Subbing: Joanne Clark I\u2019ll have my beats to go please, with a side order of chips. It\u2019s half past ten and I\u2019m wedged between two human walls of sweat, crunching melodically…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":14431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[409,2642,3735,3800,3845,5239,6346],"class_list":["post-14430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-alexandra-palace","tag-gigs","tag-live-music","tag-london-live","tag-lorde","tag-resale","tag-tickets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}