Admittedly, it is more work to find and screen bands this way, but as a result my CD collection is a lot more eclectic (and quite a bit more interesting) than it was just a few years ago.
But Diddy himself is still an outsize presence, and he compressed arena extravaganza — moving video screens, band members, backup singers — into cramped quarters.
Strobes shudder, fireworks ignite on the stage-mounted screens, band founder Ian Parton vaults over his drum kit, and crowd members raise opened umbrellas, even though they're in a tent.
Covered in tattoos across his chest and bleeding black liner from his eyes, the "Lord of the Rings" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" star spit and cursed and strutted across the set, screaming from the stage as his on-screen band performed their sold out concerts.
Either way, painting or patching DIY silk screened band names or political slogans or symbols on your butt flap is very crusty.
Jack Fate has Mr. Dylan's band, which appears on screen as a cover band named, well, Simple Twist of Fate.
At times during the show, a big video screen presents band members as they reminisce about their history and the turbulent 1960s.
A big video screen presents band members' good-humored (and slightly scripted) reminiscences, and re-enactments with young actors, when it's not pulsating with light-show splashes, Op-art explosions or archival '60s moments as the Rascals play.
"He's requested a big screen, a band playing 'Anarchy in the UK' and a choir but we're not sure what he is going to do with them yet.
Every time Mr. Brown appears on the screen, commanding band members to do this or that, students and parents shout out as if they can touch him: "Tyrone!" Mr. Brown, all of 23, is a local hero in this poor central Brooklyn neighborhood.
Ms. Holland's parties may seem a little over-the-top at times no matter who is being wed: one heterosexual bride and bridegroom danced a tango in silhouette behind a shadowy screen; the band playing the song turned out to be the Gipsy Kings.
