When I go to see a band live, I expect to see the band - or at least a glimpse - and I can understand why people get pissed off about the smoke.
A lot of people travel a long way and shell out a lot of cash to see TSOM, and all they get is a dry ice show with Von hanging around somewhere on stage (or in the bar with microphone in one hand and bottle in the other).
Personally, if I want a dry ice show done to the sound of TSOM, I’ll turn out all the lights in my house, open the freezer door, get out my mum’s old disco ball, and turn Vision Thing up really loud on my stereo. I’d get the same experience, except with better sound quality and I wouldn’t have to endure the experience of being surrounded by teenagers in black who think it’s ‘hip’ to just stand there and do s**t all while Ribbons is being belted out.
Strangely though, I still want to shell out loads of cash to travel up to London and see TSOM live, it’s like they have some strange hypnotic control over me. Hopefully they’ll let up on the dry ice - just a little.
The Sisters can do a good show without the use of dry ice, I’ve seen the footage (thanks lee
).
I’ve heard excuses such as ‘they use dry ice because it’s the music that matters, not the image’. If that’s the case, then they wouldn’t do this smoke & mirrors act, because - in my opinion - it’s taking away from the music more so than if they would just go up there and play and put all their energy into it. All the smoke & mirrors thing does is distract people from the music and have them go ‘ooh, isn’t that Von a mysterious fellow. I hope he makes another witty comment that alludes to something mysterious that is probably actually all in our heads.’
Sorry if this sounds a bit bitchy, but I woke up in a grumpy mood today and it’s just a personal opinion.