Lucky Daye’s virtual concert is nothing compared to a live performance

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There comes a point in every good gig where your head starts to go light and you almost lose track of your feet. You are right on the edge. And it’s good. Undeniably good. At their highest virtue, concerts have a secure status in the plethora of ways to have a good time.

The live concert experience can be difficult to replicate in an online live broadcast format. UTMSU SaugaFest presented Lucky day—A rising R&B artist whose 2019 album, Painted, won Grammy nominations in a virtual concert on September 16. Despite the fleeting or technically impressive euphoria of a virtual concert, it can seem so far removed from the common moment that it is trying to emulate.

The music was, for the most part, satisfying. If you find Lucky Daye’s pop-soul brand appealing, his songs will appeal to you. The second track performed by Lucky Daye, “Karma”, was marked by a downward baseline and woozy vocal melodies. The introduction to his hit single, “Roll Some Mo ‘”, was spiced up with ethereal guitar notes and highs. “Real Games” was anchored in the rain of triumphant drums and horns. Lucky Daye’s sound is smooth, sumptuous and exciting.

The penultimate track, “Love You Too Much”, was about a melancholy soundscape. His shuffling pace and his reaching voices sound almost whiny. During the concert, Lucky Daye was sympathetic. There were a few moments when the camera approached his face, so that a blazing golden light in the background filled any empty space in the frame – a frame that had been filled with relatively generic images of the performers accompanied by romantic hues of blue and royal purple. Singing supplications to a distant lover under a bright sun, Lucky Daye looked like he was completely elsewhere.

Should we try virtual concerts? Few people have done it this time. The entire time that Lucky Daye was playing, the number of people on the YouTube stream never exceeded 55. Lucky Daye arrived around 10:45 pm and left approximately 33 minutes later. For an event marketed from 7 p.m. to midnight, a large number of viewers may have been frightened.

Despite his musical mastery, the concert was rather lackluster. Even through a Marshall speaker, Lucky Daye sounded remarkably calm throughout, and that shaky sound pattern spread across the group. The guitars were funky, swooning, and electric, but they still felt distant. The drums have certainly passed, but many times, to the detriment of everything else.

However, going virtual is not a death wish. The digital realm can have its advantages. Live chats, which Daye’s concert lacked, can create an instant microculture, even if they’re not always the most mature or insightful spaces, and inventive cinematography can tell a story. A live performance is often appreciated because it only happens once, but even then it can still be captured online.

If a little more effort had been put into promotion and preparation, perhaps on the side of Lucky Daye and UTMSU, this event could have achieved something special. Instead, the concert wobbled below the line just enough to expect a small crowd on a Thursday night. It felt a bit less of a synchronous event and a bit more of a watery, aesthetically generic Tiny Desk Concert.

Solution? Aim for better audio and visual quality on streams, more platforms to share the experience, and a smoother layout.

At the end, Lucky Daye looked the camera in the eye and said, “I can’t wait to get you all face to face, but right now it’s the best we can get.”

The gig was good, Lucky Daye. But the best? I think even on a virtual platform there are ways to do better.

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