Dear LivePhish, Show MORE OF THE LIGHTS On Summer Tour Streams!
Dear LivePhish,
I know you love to show us loads of interesting tight angles on the band members on your video streams. It's neat to see their rigs, I love watching Fishman do whatever he's up to at any given moment, and of course it's fun to watch Trey noodle around while bobbling his head. That said, let's be real - that doesn't need to be 90% of what you show us.
Chris Kuroda's current lighting rig is a thing of absolute beauty. He is out there every single night visually jamming along with Phish, an integral part of the experience. Now, that obviously does not transfer to audio recording, so the only record we have of these beautiful improvisational performances is the video feed. So why are the lights treated as an afterthought in your production?
Now, this question is asked a lot, and I've never heard a good reason for it. One theory going around is that you want people to have to attend the shows themselves to get a good view of the light show. I doubt this is true, because if you know anything about Phish fans, there is absolutely nothing you could show us on stream that would make us feel like attending FEWER shows!
More importantly, your production for the Sphere shows was wonderful. THAT is what I want on these streams. Lots of wide angles of the visuals and, yes, Kuroda's massive digital lighting kit. Watching those streams felt so much more evocative of the experience of being there than all those close-ups ever could!
My theory is that you do all the close-ups because that's how most concert footage is shot, both for in-venue use on jumbotrons and for proper releases. However, Phish is not a normal band. SHOW US THE LIGHTS! Don't be afraid to just park a camera somewhere in the back and let Kuroda take us on a journey. Use your cranes and drones and whatever else. Do what you did at Sphere but for the lighting rig. Treat it like the visual element that you are attempting to showcase. Heck, even if you can't show this stuff to us for whatever reason, please archive all of that footage because one day, we will not have the chance to attend these shows, and there is precious little archival footage out there showing the full extent of what Kuroda can do on any given song.