Originally posted by ahn1991:Also, for the sake of pissing off the people calling U2 safe for running a nostalgia tour.[...]
Sticking that "nostalgia" label is so cheap.
Why? Because good music has this quality of timeless-ness.
It's just this whole idea of post-modernism that everything is supposed to be contextual, no matter what.
It's the lie that the markets have embraced in order to sell the same product over and over again just by making
it "New" and "Even Better Than Before." With this logic an iPhone 6 is nostalgia in 2017.
Not the best is good enough, only the newest is good enough...
Would one say that Classical music is nostalgic? Only if you don't know what you are talking about!
The postmodern critique here is to say that all performances of Classical music are anachronistic - which only raises the question if postmodernism itself isn't anything else than exaggerated anachronism...
But back to the matter at hand: nostalgia is a sentiment (see that wiki page for excellent references!). An emotion.
Now, do things have emotions? No! - People have emotions.
Is the JT2017 tour a thing or person?
Right, only the performers and the audience are peoples!
If there is any sentiment - including nostalgia - it must be either with the audience, or the performers.
And now we can go somewhere:
- some people will attend the JT2017 because of nostalgic sentiments. (true)
- most people attending the JT2017 have never seen the original JT tour. Do they come for nostalgic reasons?
Some, perhaps. Others not...perhaps. (true)
- Does U2 perform The Joshua Tree for nostalgic reasons? Ah! That's the big question. Answer: Only is it is not,
a) to mask the delay with SOE
b) for the money
c) to revisit and to revitalize an important work in their career (= sort of anti postmodernism, think about it: recycling, sustainability...)
So, that is just what I wanted to say about the "nostalgia" argument.
Indeed, the JT2017 tour is not about being "New" and "Even Better Than Before."
Rather, I think, it is about things like "sustainability" and old stuff that is still useful - or can be made useful with some slight modifications
(OK, there you go, a little postmodernism after all
