Sincerely,
WeekendGamer, (The guy with the King of hearts avatar)

PS: And thanks for your well worded and passionate letter. You spoke for all of us, but maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

What bothers me the most about the new design is that they seem to be taking us, the fans and users that make the community what it is, for granted, and that just doesn’t feel good. Since when is it acceptable to strip down almost all the features that make a product what it is, without even consulting the community that uses the product the most?

If you are looking to try an alternative, though I wouldn’t say a direct competitor, please check out Uvumi, it’s a straight-forward site that helps artists promote their work by providing a seamless and easy listening experience to fans, as well as a very advanced press kit creation tool that it free and built with the artist in mind. We are dedicated to helping artists succeed, and we would love to hear feedback about how we can create a richer music discovery experience for listeners (or any other feedback!).

Thanks for your post, Paul, and I am betting that T61 will slowly be adding a lot of those features we all miss into their new design. Only time will tell, though.

None the less, thank you for this post. I really hope James and Sam see the light and cater to their fans and not to the random people that are amazed by the flashy graphics but wont actually stay on the site. They only have so long before people get tired of the changes and end up going somewhere else, artists included.

Also, I think you should enable easier to post comments, having to register is prohibitive. Maybe thats the point though, hmm.

not bad indeed and i totally agree about the star spangled banner. it was a great way to set the tone for the night.

The Star Spangled Banner arrangement at the opening was interesting – I would like to hear it again.

I thought the soprano singing the first half of the program was outstanding.

The bass who sang the opening lead in Koyaaniqatsi was really on the spot. Everyone knows what the film score sounds like and those opening words are iconic. This guy had a deep enough voice and a good tone, but the texture seemed much bolder than in the original. And I think the sound engineer let us down again. He was well into the part before the sound seemed dialed in right. Not the singer’s fault but because it was distinctively different a lot of people must have been disappointed.

The piece almost always sounded better when the chorus was singing. I thought the keyboard covering was intelligently done, given what must have been a limited rehearsal time for the full orchestra.

Someone in the lower brass blew an entrance at the beginning of “The Grid”. I was so looking forward to those fog-horn like tones ringing out over the bowl. The tuba was there, but the other guy was either lost or just flat missed it completely. More likely it was a bad mike or some other sound problem. Big disappointment for me.

The chorus did a great job and got a scattering of appreciative shouts at the end of “The Grid”.

The video projection of the movie seemed unusually sharp and crisp. I have watched the movie many times on a TV screen, but this was a big upgrade.

I agree that hearing Koyaanisqatsi again was worth all the various irritations. It could have stood more rehearsal time, but it was more an event than a concert. Philip Glass always comes across as very personable and it was great to hear him in person. And it worked from a business standpoint – the bowl was at least 75% full.

Not bad for minimalism.