____twoism

Why is it that BOC rarely performs live, I would really love if they did a gig in the North West USA or South West Canada. Heck anywhere in West Coast, I'd be there!

Probably because their music doesn't really fit festivals. I think they want to keep their live performances special and magical.. but I still hope that they'll tour with TH again

Yea ! I would definitely be willing to travel to wherever they did a live gig, even if it was on an opposite end of the globe, and I had enough notice before hand

chronical wrote:Probably because their music doesn't really fit festivals. I think they want to keep their live performances special and magical.. but I still hope that they'll tour with TH again

Why would it have to be at a festival? They could do one of the hundreds of great 800-1100 occupancy venues out there. Why wouldn't that be the route to take?

Kopriva wrote:Why is it that BOC rarely performs live, I would really love if they did a gig in the North West USA or South West Canada. Heck anywhere in West Coast, I'd be there!

Per an interview in 2006: Opening up a long stretch of conversation on the subject, Mike takes the lead "We've been under a lot of pressure to play of course," he confirms. "One of the things that comes through from the big boss man Warp Records is offers from festivals. Usually our respons to that is that we would be more comfortable playing a small venue that would suit what we do. Our live show as it was had ah eavy reliance on visuals--we were using video projections and monitors--and secretly over the last 3 years since we last played a gig we've started to develop a different show. We expanded the band and have friends who are part of the potential group if we go out on the road again. And we do intend to go out and play again but at the moment what we want to do is at odds with the offers coming in to play alongside bands like Foo Fighters and people like that."

Marcus, the quieter but by no means less passionate of the two, finishes Mike's thought and addresses more specifically what it is about Boards of Canada's sound that makes the prospect of a live show do tricky. "You've got to know the limitations of the music that you make. I always think of our music as being a lot more like headphone music, a brain music that you can drift into," he says. "So the idea of playing on a stage where you may be coming on just before a massive set by The Chemical Brothers doesn't sound like it would work. Earlier on though, when we were in transition from working with Skam to working with Warp, we did a couple of gigs that were label showcases with Warp artists. We have massive respect for guys like Squarepusher and Aphex Twin but we found ourselves doing shows with these guys and they were so full-on electronic and really full of energy. It wasn't really what we wanted to do at the time."

Finishing Marcus' thought, Mike chimes in for one last comment, the thought of which will certainly become fan-boy fodder for neo-prog and electronica lovers the world over. "It might have suited us better to be put on a bill beside Tortoise or somebody like that. And you never know, we still could end up doing it one day."

from the same interview quoted above:

"The thing with electronic music these days," says Marcus, "is that so much of it nowadays can be really good but it's so studio-based. So the moment you try and take it out, it's either played back form the laptop or a mess for someone who isn't able to play it live. The laptop performance thing has never been something that's appealed to us."

overview of their interviews: http://bocpages.org/wiki/Interviews

all text on a single page is also available: http://bocpages.org/wiki/Interviews-all

Fredd-E wrote:overview of their interviews: http://bocpages.org/wiki/Interviews

all text on a single page is also available: http://bocpages.org/wiki/Interviews-all

This.

I remember that interview very well and thanks for reposting it. It's confirmed what I've felt for a while, that live BOC would be closer too (sorry ambient-worriers) Stars of the Lid than to Ae or Aphex Twin etc. Those of you who've seen SOTL live will no doubt understand what I mean - church setting, huge visuals, even bigger sound, very reverential feel to the audience.

We can but hope and dream I guess?

yea its needs a bit of work, planning and the right environment.
many of their fans don' get or understand why and would expect them
to follow the usual road and sandwich them in betwwen QOTSA and Daft Punk
at Lollapallooza or something and be perfectly ok with it.

That ain't gonna happen and they're all the better for it.

edit- double post

Makes sense, I would just love to see the two work their magic in front of my eyes. But no pressure, I respect them for their reasons to or not to do another live showing

it really would be something to hear my favorite band live... a man can dream though.

I think they are kind of shy when it comes to being BoC in public eye. I can't really blame them, I'm a super private person myself.