Forward to "Everyone Must Be Announced," a new book of concert audience photos by Aaron Stern

A ll this jumping around and screaming. All this jumping around. Banging on things, and also thinking in a linear manner. For what? A suspension, of some kind, to the interpersonal dynamic that everyone experiences everyday. They are usually amassed below you, at your feet. Why not above? I want to experience them and their many hands. I tried a few times; in Norway they almost dropped me, and then I would’ve been cooked. And then somewhere (the town will remain nameless) Jenny Frontrow reached up and stroked the package, it was a soft and gentle stroke, as if petting a rabbit’s foot. There are architectural concerns, or the form. The festival setting, or the very large audiences in Madison Square Garden, for example, covered in this book. Here, there are so many individual particles to this mass that any labels applied cease to be sociologically descriptive. Who are they, who am I? What is this???? Answer: a series of events that led to this point. To the extent that terminology about the components cannot be found, a concert of this size works on the phenomenological level, it is an event larger than the aesthetic of the art itself, a rarity. But it also amplifies and reflects the aesthetic. Terminology about components ceases to matter. This is where the job becomes its most instructive, exciting. Which is not to say that One can never, as performer, have a one-to-one relationship with an audience member. One can recognize, in certain members, fragments of the mythology you may have used to produce your work: as a cliché, a beautiful girl. Or a wiry, ragged, and sensitive Glaswegian that reminds you of Bobbie Gillespie or Edwyn Collins. On the other hand, you might notice some Fratty Futurebanker that, under the right circumstances (sleep, travel) really bums you out. Phenomenological approach. I am trying to point out here the erasure of a binary division between the stage performing artist and the audience, even less than might be presumed to exist between the band’s individual members. And a concert will not Tolerate self consciousness of any kind. To feel that the audience is worshiping you is as difficult as when you feel hated. The minute the angel acknowledged himself as god is when....well, down, down he went and you know the rest. Therefore what can a band offer to such a mass? The idea of a specific line of reasoning or a matched social agenda won't hold up- therein the roles of teacher and disciple are firmly in place, DJ VIBEKILLER and the self consciousness described above begins. So what? In the absence of Utopia, the best we can offer is what may best be described as "heterotopias;" that is, pluralistic, non-legitimated anarchic spaces. Where individual histories can co-exist with group histories, individual ones taking precedent. But in modern society, this is a small miracle. Alas… There is a Power, and….. With any luck, visitations can occur. I won't speculate about its darkness or lightness, but it may be our reason for being. Andrew Wyatt August 2011