I found these old ticket stubs recently and they reminded me why live music is still the future.
Neil Young. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. The Stones. Miles Davis. Tower of Power. Albert King. Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall.
As a kid, those shows were not just entertainment. They were education.
They taught me feel, phrasing, tone, dynamics and the power of being in a room with people making music in real time.
So much of the music conversation now is about streams, playlists, algorithms, catalogue value and short-form content.
All of that matters. I have spent my life making records.
However, the record is the invitation.
The live show is the communion.
Every performance is unique. The room is different. The audience is different. The band is different. The moment can never be repeated in quite the same way.
That is why live music matters even more in the age of AI.
AI can imitate sound. It can generate endless recorded material.
However, it cannot stand in a room with you.
It cannot feel the audience inhale before the first note.
It cannot create that one night where something happens that nobody planned.
Artists also need to understand scale.
Not every tour is going to make hundreds of millions. Not every artist should be chasing arenas.
A 150-cap room can be a triumph. A 500-cap theatre can be life changing.
The future is not just bigger shows.
It is smarter, more human experiences.
Because when people get together with music, something happens.