It’s Sunday evening - heading towards 10:30pm - and I’m sat listening to “Tiny Dancer” on the “Madman Across the Water” album by Elton John. There is an interesting story about Elton John that the newspapers never tell. Although he often behaves like a spoiled infant when television cameras are pointed in his direction, the truth is as far removed as you could possibly imagine.
It so happened that a group of students just down the road from his mansion (at the height of his fame) discovered they had no band booked for their end of year party. A couple of the more cheeky among them knew Elton lived nearby, and called on his gate buzzer. By pure luck of various staff either not being there, or Elton happening to be near the buzzer in the house, he answered.
A mad conversation ensued whereupon Elton agreed to play their party for nothing, on one condition - that they could provide a grand piano.
The scenes that ensued that evening became legend at a particular college in the UK - with all manner of health and safety regulations being broken as students packed the music rooms of the college, and stood in windows in order to witness one of the geniuses of the 20th century at work. For free.
If anybody knows more about this story (and it did happen, before you doubt - I read about it in Q magazine about 15 years ago), it deserves to be shouted from the rooftops. Perhaps the realisation that all electronic music is sliding towards “free” will make bands realise that garnering a following is dependent on performance - and that means getting up in front of real people.
With a little luck forcing musicians to perform instead of hiding behind auto tuners and samplers will force change - and destroy the idiotic studio bands built by layers of management who should not be there in the first place.