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| Let's get ready to ramble: the three types of on-stage speaking | Let's get ready to ramble: the three types of on-stage speaking |
| (2 months later) | |
| “Take it down a minute … I wanna say something.” Words to chill the heart of the doughtiest gig-goer; for the art of the onstage ramble is mastered by few. The recent return of national treasure Johnny Borrell reminded me that among his many talents, he is a fine practitioner of the art of the extended aside: witness this performance of Razorlight’s Leave Me Alone at Alexandra Palace in 2005, during which, three-and-a-half-minutes in, Johnny tops off an impromptu disquisition on the squalor of London streets at night with the observation “even communism’d be better than this” before listing the stages of London’s 29 bus route.It's rare for the onstage rambler to impart travel information; and often, there's no greater revelation mid-monologue other than that you never knew you could want someone to play another song so badly. | |
| We’re not talking mere banter, here, or spoken word (though someone like Patti Smith gushes verbosely across all boundaries): we’re talking a diversion or tangent that drags on at least until what we’ll call the "amused-yet-anxious glance at your neighbour stage". It’s a tricky art, but here are the basic groups … | We’re not talking mere banter, here, or spoken word (though someone like Patti Smith gushes verbosely across all boundaries): we’re talking a diversion or tangent that drags on at least until what we’ll call the "amused-yet-anxious glance at your neighbour stage". It’s a tricky art, but here are the basic groups … |
| Type 1: the sermon | Type 1: the sermon |
| Johnny’s bus-based digression is clearly influenced by Bruce Springsteen’s sweaty, throb-necked preaching during Light Of Day and other songs. The sermon is designed to cut through the normal verse-chorus-verse-OOH-I-KNOW-THIS-ONE patterns of a live show and check, as Bruce puts it, if “there’s anybody alive out there”. And yet, it’s still a scripted part of the show. Neither his nor Johnny’s visitation of the spirit is as spontaneous as it’s intended to seem (although Kiss’s Paul Stanley, at 18:20 here, may be undergoing a genuine manifestation), but even when Bruce is vibing on MTV Unplugged, his exhortations are so scripted he even points at the correct camera (almost) right on cue. | Johnny’s bus-based digression is clearly influenced by Bruce Springsteen’s sweaty, throb-necked preaching during Light Of Day and other songs. The sermon is designed to cut through the normal verse-chorus-verse-OOH-I-KNOW-THIS-ONE patterns of a live show and check, as Bruce puts it, if “there’s anybody alive out there”. And yet, it’s still a scripted part of the show. Neither his nor Johnny’s visitation of the spirit is as spontaneous as it’s intended to seem (although Kiss’s Paul Stanley, at 18:20 here, may be undergoing a genuine manifestation), but even when Bruce is vibing on MTV Unplugged, his exhortations are so scripted he even points at the correct camera (almost) right on cue. |
| Type 2: the introductory anecdote | Type 2: the introductory anecdote |
| Some artists are as famed for their between-song stories as their songs, such as mistress-of-the-yarn Dolly Parton, here introducing Backwoods Barbie with a disquisition on the importance of doll(y)ing yourself up defiance against poverty, or Dirty Three’s Warren Ellis’s little spiel on Justin Bieber’s detrimental effect on the ozone layer. Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices released a whole album of his introductory rambles, as did Elvis (though the latter, with the King dispensing scarves, sweaty towels and shit jokes to screaming fans as he tells the story of his success, is regularly voted among the worst albums of all time). Or how about this more modern, post-watershed take from Miley Cyrus, introducing Wrecking Ball at GAY and allegedly not crushing Liam Hemsworth with a steely orb of up-yours? | Some artists are as famed for their between-song stories as their songs, such as mistress-of-the-yarn Dolly Parton, here introducing Backwoods Barbie with a disquisition on the importance of doll(y)ing yourself up defiance against poverty, or Dirty Three’s Warren Ellis’s little spiel on Justin Bieber’s detrimental effect on the ozone layer. Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices released a whole album of his introductory rambles, as did Elvis (though the latter, with the King dispensing scarves, sweaty towels and shit jokes to screaming fans as he tells the story of his success, is regularly voted among the worst albums of all time). Or how about this more modern, post-watershed take from Miley Cyrus, introducing Wrecking Ball at GAY and allegedly not crushing Liam Hemsworth with a steely orb of up-yours? |
| Once you’ve seen the same acts a few times, though, you become aware how elements in the show that seem spontaneous – quips, crowd interaction, covers, explanations – are often repeated night after night. To some extent, as Alex Turner argued when upstarts the Orwells criticised Arctic Monkeys’ live show for being too synchronised, that’s part and parcel of a big tour. It’s very much not the case, though, with … | |
| Type 3: the genuine derailrant | Type 3: the genuine derailrant |
| This is the only type of ramble likely to trouble the equilibrium of tour managers. News of Guns N’ Roses’ follow-up to Chinese Democracy heralds the return of that baroque stylist of arrogance, Axl Rose, here explaining why there is absolutely no point to music critics. A more recent maestro of this form is Kanye West, whose famous 10-minute Big Chill rant of 2011, was left dead in the water by this sprawling, 20-minute plus ramble from Montreal in February this year, one of a series of such speeches from his Yeezus tour. Hysterical as it is that Kanye delivers his pleas for understanding from within a mesh face mask, like a particularly earnest fencer, it’s too easy (as he’s noted himself) to dismiss the rapper by making him a figure of fun. There are some interesting points in his discourse on class, stereotyping, the power of masks, how rap has changed in the past decade and his aims on Yeezus (“I know how to make a hit record … but that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to create a hit mind-state …”), only a little undercut by a man in the audience howling “GIVE US THE ANSWERS, KANYE!” a few minutes in, as the piano player gamely keeps improvising. | This is the only type of ramble likely to trouble the equilibrium of tour managers. News of Guns N’ Roses’ follow-up to Chinese Democracy heralds the return of that baroque stylist of arrogance, Axl Rose, here explaining why there is absolutely no point to music critics. A more recent maestro of this form is Kanye West, whose famous 10-minute Big Chill rant of 2011, was left dead in the water by this sprawling, 20-minute plus ramble from Montreal in February this year, one of a series of such speeches from his Yeezus tour. Hysterical as it is that Kanye delivers his pleas for understanding from within a mesh face mask, like a particularly earnest fencer, it’s too easy (as he’s noted himself) to dismiss the rapper by making him a figure of fun. There are some interesting points in his discourse on class, stereotyping, the power of masks, how rap has changed in the past decade and his aims on Yeezus (“I know how to make a hit record … but that wasn’t my goal. My goal was to create a hit mind-state …”), only a little undercut by a man in the audience howling “GIVE US THE ANSWERS, KANYE!” a few minutes in, as the piano player gamely keeps improvising. |
| But how brilliant is it that an artist of Kanye’s stature would derail a show of that size and expense for 20 minutes to talk with (well, at) his audience? When a really spontaneous ramble like this takes place, you feel that you’re part of a something happening NOW, that the musician onstage is trying to communicate directly with you rather than just going through the usual motions. As Kanye says, “I’m talking to you like this, like you just saw me in a hotel lobby and we were sitting down talking. This ain’t really about entertainment …” And even if you’d just rather the entertainment to stick to itinerary, well, they nearly always play another song in the end. | But how brilliant is it that an artist of Kanye’s stature would derail a show of that size and expense for 20 minutes to talk with (well, at) his audience? When a really spontaneous ramble like this takes place, you feel that you’re part of a something happening NOW, that the musician onstage is trying to communicate directly with you rather than just going through the usual motions. As Kanye says, “I’m talking to you like this, like you just saw me in a hotel lobby and we were sitting down talking. This ain’t really about entertainment …” And even if you’d just rather the entertainment to stick to itinerary, well, they nearly always play another song in the end. |
| The examples here aren’t meant to be comprehensive – so please add your own below. |
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