Welcome back to the not-so-weekly music fix! This week in music, I didn’t go to Coachella but I really wish I did.
Tupac Resurrected For Coachella
The biggest WTF moment to come from this year’s Coachella festival was hands-down Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s performance with deceased rapper Tupac Shakur.
The hologram, which was entirely computer-generated (as opposed to being created from existing footage), was mind-blowing but also a little too realistic for (my) comfort. In the video footage, hologram Tupac looks, sounds and moves exactly like the real Tupac once did, and had I been standing in the crowd, I imagine I would’ve momentarily mistaken it for the real deal and freaked the f*ck out. But that was Dre’s vision — to bring Tupac back to life — and so in that regard it was nicely played.
So how do you feel about deceased performers being resurrected for ‘live’ entertainment? Think it’s awesome? Weird? Right now I’m leaning towards ‘weird,’ however if someone put on a Jeff Buckley hologram concert, I can’t guarantee that I wouldn’t want to attend.
Also if you weren’t lucky enough to go to the festival, a few hours on the Coachella youtube page would probably be a good way to spend your day.
Watch: Missy Higgins ‘Making Of’ Video
My excitement for Missy Higgins‘ upcoming album, The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle, is growing every day, and this ‘making of’ video has only added to the anticipation. The clip features Missy and singer/songwriter/producer Butterfly Boucher experimenting with unusual instruments and animal sounds in the studio, so it’s probably safe to assume that this album will not be The Sound Of White Pt 2.
Missy Higgins “Hello, Experimental” – Making The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle from Missy Higgins on Vimeo.
Speaking of Butterfly Boucher, you can watch her perform every track from her new self-titled album via a series of music videos on youtube, which is worth checking out. Here’s the video for the single 5, 6, 7, 8, which also features Missy Higgins.
Watch: Uh Huh Her’s ‘Human Nature’ Music Video
Uh Huh Her have released a new music video for “Human Nature,” a track from last year’s Nocturnes album.
In the video, Leisha gets stranded on The Island after her UFO crashes; she goes horse-riding with the Black Swan and then teaches the Smoke Monster how to hair flick. At least that’s what might have happened. Leisha’s shirt may have distracted me from the real events of this story.
“Leisha’s shirt may have distracted me from the real events of this story.” <—- hahaha ME TOO!
It’s okay guys, I paid extra close attention:
Spaceship crashes, something, something, boobs. Feathers, boobs, horses! Boobs.
Missy Higgins, y u so dreamy? This definitely made my night.
i’m just gonna take this moment to say that i’m so out of touch with how far weird sci-fi technology has progressed that, if i were at coachella, i would have gone through all or most of the performance thinking “omg they resurrected tupac” before i EVER would have thought “omg what a realistic tupac hologram that is.”
“What sorcery is this? NECROMANCY!?!”
*sooookieeeyyy*
So so excited for the new Missy Higgins album. I love both the Sound of White and On a Clear Night, but I am glad to see her trying something new. Her voice is so amazing. *Swoon*
THAT TUPAC HOLOGRAM IS FUCKING CREEPY
The Tupac hologram makes me think CAPRICA
it’s the beginning of V-world you guys
Yeah great hologram technology. Just a pity they used it for a rapist and not someone worth resurrecting.
someone has been in my iTunes again….LOVE IT!
I don’t know about the “resurrecting a deceased musician” thing… If someone did something like that with John Lennon, and Paul McCartney sang with his hologram on stage… I would cry and cry and probably feel sort of sick afterwards. It’s too close to what should be reality. And it would just bring the wrongness of his death into sharper focus… It’s kind of creepy. I don’t know. I know the hologram thing came from a good place, but it’s definitely disturbing.
I have been lurking this site for several years now, and I finally cannot resist the pull to join in the conversation.
I agree that it’s as disturbing as it is fascinating.
In addition, I’m legitimately concerned with the potential impact this form of technology could have on the entertainment industries (beginning with music). The fact that this technology was first used to enable a “being in 5 places at once” scenario for a Mariah Carey performance, and then immediately followed by resurrecting a dead performer, sets off major warning signals in my head. I can already imagine the music industry execs falling all over themselves to squander the last remains of their budgets racing to further develop and employ this technology. I’m worried about what could happen if the focus (and funds) increasingly became about resurrecting old artists (“Come see the Beatles perform Live!”, as Samantha suggested), at the expense of supporting current or emerging artists. I worry that with all of these rapid advancements in communicative technologies, our culture industries are collapsing; as technology races into the future, the arts become further entrenched in the past. And as someone concerned with authenticity in art (and who is frustrated by the mainstream response that people like me are simply “stuck in the past”), this entire concept really turns me off. First there were laptop performances, next up: holograms!
It reminds me of the running gag in Futurama, with the preserved heads of deceased public figures– particularly the episode where the Beastie Boys(‘ heads) performed a live concert. It’s funny on Futurama. It’s borderline dystopian in real life. It really wouldn’t be a major stretch for this type of technology to be further employed in film and television (where it already is to a certain extent), considering how far special effects have come in the past decade. If there is a demonstrated audience for this type of resurrection in a live performance setting (which I’m sure the response to this “Tupac” show will confirm for industry execs), then why wouldn’t movie studios go “Oh, so we could get away with full-on 3-D imaging deceased figures and inserting new dialogue into their mouths? Alright, America: get ready for Hangover IV: Starring the Rat Pack Gang!”
And the fact that they had “Tupac” yell “what the f**k is up, Coachella!”, effectively endorsing the festival, is also really messed up. I do see this as an artists’ rights issue.
Hi! I’m glad you stopped lurking to leave this comment.
I’m also a little concerned about the impact that holograms could have on the entertainment industry, however I’m comforted by the fact that creating a hologram is so expensive and time consuming (the Tupac hologram reportedly cost $100K / 4 months of work, depending which report you read) that it would probably be a long time before we saw entire hologram concerts that are of the same quality/realness as the Tupac appearance. My guess is that it will probably remain a special effect that performers and promoters briefly whip out to get people talking.
The other question is whether concert-goers would be willing to pay a ticket price that would make it a profitable event. Most of the comments I saw from Coachella attendees were along the lines of ‘creepy/weird’, so I’m not totally convinced that there will be future demand.
I agree that hologram Tupac yelling ‘what the fuck is up, Coachella’ was kinda off. Tupac’s mother apparently gave them permission to do the hologram, which is probably all they needed – but in the future I imagine that the laws surrounding the use of a deceased artist’s likeness are going to get far more complicated as technology becomes more advanced.
Ah, I’m so excited for Missy’s new album!! I love how passionate she is about her music, fellow musicians and well life in general. Like you guys, she is an inspiration!
i grew up listening to/wantingtobe/marry/slightlyterrifiedof Tupac. HOLY SHIZ.
i’m stunned.
we must stop technology now.
pretty soon we will not know who is real and who isn’t.
chills amazing.
and here i was thinking he was just chillen w his mama in Cuba….
oh shit WHITNEY’S COMEBACK TOUR might be COMING BACK!
too soon?
I was waiting for Effie Trinket to pop up somewhere in Uh Huh Her’s music video. Everything is the hunger games.
I actually was at Coachella and saw this live in person. I have to say that it was one of the most mind-bending moments I’ve ever experienced. The entire crowd went nearly silent for a few minutes and people were genuinely confused. I literally dropped to my knees and said, “what the f***!” Most of the Snoop and Dre performance was completely awesome, but it is hard to think about anything but the Tupac part. For a short while, I was completely convinced that he had been alive the whole time. From where I was standing it looked like he was standing on stage and dancing completely in sync with the monitor. It was very convincing.
This seems like quite a milestone in music history. Let’s see where it takes us next…
Okay. If they bring Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston back, I’ll collectively lose my shit.
As much as I love him, bringing Pac back only brings back the guys in my neighborhood who think he’s alive. So thanks for that annoying conspiracy theory rant Coachella.