On Thursday, I live-streamed my 2nd paid show. I didn't love the dodgy quality of Sarah Slean's Zoom session but the ticket only cost $7. Yet Kathleen Edwards' (free) show was an excellent broadcast. I wasn't sure how it would turn out with Instrument Head Live. But Molly Tuttle was playing from her new album of covers. In addition, it was to highlight alopecia awareness month in September and some of the proceeds was benefiting the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.
Tuttle was her usual virtuoso self. The covers ranged across multiple genres including Fake Empire (The National), mirrored heart (FKA twigs), She's Like A Rainbow (The Rolling Stones), and How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens). They all bore her deft touch on the guitar with her precise flat-picking and sonorous melding of chords and melody lines. But it was the "power songs" such as Rancid's Olympia, WA and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Zero that were perfect for her hard-driving playing and blindingly fast solos. Tuttle closed out the night with several of her own songs and Neil Young's Helpless.
Despite her talent, it was a frustrating show. At a live event, you can choose where to look. Personally, with someone of Tuttle's abilities, I would definitely keep watch on her hands. But I guess the producers thought that a static medium shot wouldn't be "interesting" so kept switching cameras and using pans and zooms. Also, they used their own video player and server instead of Youtube or another popular site. Not only did the quality got progressively worse as the player cycled down to lower bit-rates but eventually it disconnected a dozen times. At $20, I would be hesitant to pay for other live-streaming shows. At a bad venue, you could try to move around to get better sound and sight-lines. Online, you're stuck with potato quality or a spinning circle.
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