One of the first things we ever did for Vodafone was the corporate id for the Vodafone Live Music Awards. We did it pretty quickly in a pitch and it has been the logo for the last two years now. Last year we went to the awards and there it was, as big as house. It was great to see it plastered everywhere. Last week I went along to the launch of this years' awards which was combined with a secret Kanye West gig and album launch. Our logo was still looking pretty good I reckon but elswhere there was trouble at mill.
Now, I’m not much of a Kanye aficionado but even I know he has a reputation as a bit of a perfectionist. Whether he was even going to do the gig was in question right up until the last few minutes. When he did arrive he then kept everyone waiting for more than an hour – apparently he went back to the hotel for something. Possibly he was a bit chilly so needed a string vest.
First things first. This wasn’t a ‘gig’ gig, it was an album launch and recording of a TV show. No one paid for tickets – I for one was just happy to be there. The location was great – a library in Westminster. Not exactly gangsta but I think that was the point. Mr West had a large ensemble, with huge orchestra, one of our (female) clients exclaimed how big his organ was. He then just sort of did his thing. That included doing the same song three times, talking to the audience a lot and singing over a bare piano – rather than doing all the hits. A lot of people left and some of the dare posse were not too impressed. But the point for me was that he was tweaking stuff. Ok, in this instance he was tweaking in public – but sometimes you have to do the ugly stuff to get to something beautiful. I am sure the next album will be amazing and the real live performances equally awesome.
The other thing I noticed was that probably more than half the audience spent the entire gig with their phones in the air taking pictures and video.
Obviously this is a good thing for the client but it did make me think that one could very easily miss the entire gig trying to take the perfect picture. Flickr and YouTube are great repositories for memories (you can see mine here) but I do feel one should actually enjoy the experience first and then perhaps record it for what must be an inferior experience later.
James Cooper
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Member since: 03 Jun 2008
Last login: 17 Nov 2009
Total Posts: 210
