I guess, like a lot of people, I am spending a lot of time during lockdown on the computer.

My God, what would we do these days without the internet?!

Whilst surfing the net recently I came across a genre of YouTube channels that I did not existed.

They are called Reaction channels.

My interest was in checking out Music Reaction channels.

The formula for these channels is always the same.

There’s a host. He, for simplicity’s sake let’s call him a he, tells his audience, his subscribers and those who are watching for the first time, what his show will be about today.  Let’s say he tells us that today’s show is about Eva Cassidy’s version of the folk classic  ‘Autumn Leaves’. The premise is that he has never heard this interpretation before.

He puts his headphones on, and the video of Eva Cassidy performing the song is played, which he sees and we also see.

We see him reacting to the song and then, at times, he pauses the video and articulates his reactions. At the end of the song, he sums up his reaction and then does his sign off, saying that he welcomes any new viewers to subscribe to his channel, and then wishes everyone well till he uploads his next reaction/episode.

Very formulaic, well so many things are these days, but interesting to watch.

Is this a sign of what the future holds?! People, in the comfort of their own homes, listening to the latest album, watching the latest movie, reading a new book, and then going straight on to their  YouTube channel and filing their review.

It is a long way from when I was back at Uni doing my Creative Arts degree and as students we were asked to write Performance Responses, considered reflections, on shows that we had recently seen.

How does the saying go? We live in interesting times…

Featured image : The late, great American songstress Eva Cassidy.