America's Massey Hall concert: Nostalgia, mixed messages, and the struggle for relevancy
By
Brad Wheeler
Summary
A review of a concert by the folk-rock band America at Massey Hall, focusing on how the surviving original member Dewey Bunnell and his new backing band use multimedia montages to establish the band's cultural relevancy. The article critiques the band's approach of mixing cool modern references (Breaking Bad, Parks and Rec) with dated archival footage of 1970s TV hosts singing their hits, questioning whether this strategy is counterproductive.
Source
Twitter / XAmerica's Massey Hall concert: Nostalgia, mixed messages, and the struggle for relevancytheglobeandmail.comKey quotes
· 2 pulledScreening clips of A Horse with No Name as seen in Breaking Bad, Parks and Recreation and American Hustle – all hits of the 2010s – is a cool enough idea to establish band's relevancy.
But isn't digging up archival footage of squares Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis crooning America's 1972 hit I Need You counterproductive?
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