Netta Barzilai/Nunu at Hangar 11

I was prepared to write a review of Netta's first full concert in Israel but it turns out that Michaela Hazani summarized my thoughts almost perfectly for Ynetnews.

I disagree somewhat about the lack of a unifying theme.  From the matching outfits and audacious brass section I was getting a 21st century electro funk JB's vibe from the whole thing.  The problem was the inconsistent execution.  If she wants to revamp her sound and go full on JB's, then go for it.  But you can't do that while also giving the looper a starring role and showcasing wacky sets and backup dancers like in her iconic Eurovision performance (the style that Hazani wants her to return to).  

Netta clearly wants to blaze a new path, beyond "Toy", beyond her other famous collaborators like Static and Ben-El.  That's fine, but "Zero Effort" was one of the biggest hits of the year and should have been a show-stopping performance, but it wasn't.  I felt the crowd was excited for the concert, but the overall mood was one of curiosity.  People wanted to see what a Netta concert was all about but didn't plan on losing their minds while dancing.  

"Straight Outta Compton", dir. F. Gary Gray; "Rolling Thunder Revue, A Bob Dylan Story", dir. Martin Scorsese

I watched these movies back to back, which made for an interesting contrast.  Both are set against the backdrop of political and social turmoil in the country, both stories are centred upon cults of personality for their chosen subjects.  However, the Dylan film uses the politics of the day merely to set the time and place, the music is presented as a literal travelling circus meant as a distraction from important real life problems.  Of course, NWA's music was a intended as an encapsulation of the real world, and was entirely reflective of their environment.   Dylan is a fascinating and befuddling character.  Each evening he dresses up as a half-zombie, half troubadour clown, constantly looking worn down by living a rock star lifestyle.  But when he hits the stage  he breathes fire, projecting an intensity and purpose every bit as lucid and intimidating as what NWA were doing. 

Between the two Martin Scorcese directed Dylan docs, I preferred "No Direction Home" by a wide margin.  Many rock fans knew next to nothing about the folk scene of the 50's and 60's, other than the fact that Dylan was a part of it.  That doc turned the scene into a living object filled with colourful characters and impassioned live performances.  The interviews in  "Rolling Thunder" are a mix of real and made up characters, and the faux-documentary aspect left me confused rather than amused.  It's interesting to see the likes of Joni Mitchell and Roger McGuinn caught in Rolling Thunder's orbit, tagging along with the tour and jamming with Dylan in their downtime.  And as I already mentioned, the main strength of the doc is its many outstanding stage performances.   Even Dylan admits at the end of the doc that the tour meant nothing and accomplished nothing, it was a fun thing to do at the time, but didn't have a broader cultural impact and was a money loser to boot.  

"Straight Outta Compton" goes the extra mile in its quest for realism.  The camera frequently catches its subjects at close range, it's almost like you're watching a live Go Pro feed from a person who was standing in the room at the time of the action.  Indoor scenes are dimly (and grimly) lit, scenes of violence are appropriately chaotic.  I think the story arc leaned too far into "Behind the Music" territory, searching for a fall and redemption that wasn't really there.   Dre and Cube were far more successful and relevant after leaving NWA, Eazy E floundered but still made a bundle of money off of Ruthless.  I don't know all the details, but was Jerry Heller any more corrupt than the average music exec?  The artists are always the last ones to get paid, I'm not excusing it, but Heller is clearly cast as a uniquely evil villain of the project whereas the moral failings of the NWA members are largely glossed over or ignored (Cube's anti-Semitism, Dre's domestic issues, E's promiscuity).     For the most part I enjoyed the movie for the same reasons I enjoyed, say, Anton Corbijn's "Control", in that it brilliantly reconstructs a bygone era and makes you a fly on the wall for moments that fans have longed to see.  

Superbowl LVI halftime show

People my age are now in the centre of the Superbowl halftime show demographic, i.e. people who don't follow contemporary music too much and wax maximum nostalgia for music from thirty years earlier. It's true that the boomer-era stars had a good run for most of the first decade of the 2000's, and haven't headlined since The Who in 2010.   The last ten plus of headliners have skewed much younger, certainly nobody can claim that The Weeknd (last year's headliner) isn't a huge star at the top of his game.  But don't fool yourself, do the math.  When Paul McCartney headlined in 2005, it had been twenty years since his last US top ten hit ("Spies Like Us", a song I remember nothing about).  In 2022, it has been eleven years (not including appearances as a featured artist) since Dre's last US top ten hit ("I Need a Doctor"), and twenty seven years since his last top ten before that ("Keep Their Heads Ringin"). Bruce Springsteen's last top ten was fifteen years before his SB headlining appearance, Prince's last was thirteen years previous.  Justin Timberlake, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, and Coldplay were all twenty year veterans of the music business when they headlined.  These are criticisms only if you want them to be. Prince was a commercial force more recently than Dre (at the time of his SB headlining gig) and many people consider his set to be the best ever.  

This year's show felt fresh and different.  The staging was unique and highly original. Dre and Snoop looked like they were having the times of their lives out there.  Kendrick Lamar and Eminem were great for the most part, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent not so much.  Obviously Eminem's kneeling gesture was approved by the NFL, this is a non-controversy that's been overblown.  If he had gone off script the director would have cut away or reframed the shot, in fact the opposite occurred and the camera lingered on him for about twenty seconds.  MJB's vocals sounded weak and nondescript, although that might have been due to the poor stadium acoustics and double tracked vocals for all the performers.  50 Cent appeared lazy and unmotivated, but no different than in the prime of his career in that sense.  Dre and Snoop came off like kings of the MF'ing block, STILL, after all these years.  All in all, it wasn't a perfect show by any means, but it was certainly one of the most memorable.