Personally , as I think I've made clear, no, I don't. If writers and musicians have to start considering how their music will sound in arenas (or clubs) then it is bound to restrict them. Besides, who knows how popular a band or singer will get in the future? If say Badly Drawn Boy started out in clubs and then got so popular that they had to play bigger and bigger venues, should their music then be tailored to those bigger venues? What about when an artist either gets less popular (Roger Waters playing solo to a few thousand people while Floyd play to ten or more times that number), or else stage a less-than-successful comeback (Jeff Lynne AS ELO)? Do they then have to rewrite their material so that it sounds better in smaller settings?
I don't think the venue has any bearing at all on the music. It's up to the listener. After all, if they don't enjoy a big arena concert they can still go home and listen to the album as it was meant to be, but not if somehow it gets written --- or rewritten --- for stadium gigs.
On another note, what do you think of Waits' new album? Is it brilliant, or is it just brilliant? Or, to put it another way, is it brilliant?
