Article(s): Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic Chuck Yarborough delivers his State of the Concert address

(I’m a little late catching up on this - but still wanted to share)

Recently Plain Dealer / Cleveland.com’s music reporter Chuck Yarborough released his “State of the Concert address"

"CLEVEAND, Ohio – Mr. Guitarist, Madame Singer, Honored Drummers (I’ll type slowly so you can follow along), Ticket-holding fans. I am here today, writing this august body to tell you the State of the Concert is . . . in trouble."

(Via Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic Chuck Yarborough delivers his State of the Concert address | cleveland.com.)

 Shortly thereafter, p.stoops countered with a perfect rebuttal.

"My State of the Concert? I think it’s great. Every year we get exposed to more and more artists because of our increased communication with each other. We saw experimentation in onstage electronics, new takes on old forms, and wild youthful abandon. Cleveland got a ton of fantastic acts like Jungle, Prefuse 73, Punch Brothers - just to name a few I really loved.

This past year the Beachland Ballroom, the Grog Shop, Mahall’s, and many other venues saw hundreds of wildly talented musicians come through their doors. Concertgoers fell in love with each other. Drinks were shared. People came together."

(Via A Rebuttal to the Plain Dealer's 'State of the Concert' Piece and Chuck Yarborough's Dislike of DJs | Scene and Heard: Scene's News Blog.)

Chuck Yarborough sounds like an old-school, rock-n-roll bred Clevelander who’s stuck in the arena rock days of music.  Oh the prices!  Oh the DJ’s!  Oh the phones!  Oh the Auto-Tune!

While the big venue business exists, and is a major money-maker for the titans of the concert world, Chuck is missing an incredibly vibrant, talented and crucial aspect to our state of the concert.