Supergroup Fleetwood Mac reunites (review)

[David]

Originally Posted by winnona Call

I have to say that alot of the comments made about this critic is just stupid. I am a big FM fan...but I am not so blind that I have to pick at people on a personal level if I dont like what they say

I agree with you. It's nonsensical to take off after critics for practicing . . . criticism. That's the point of criticism: giving one's opinion & explaining why one feels the way one does. Whether that opinion is positive or negative is totally beside the point. People sometimes talk about the need for the critic to be objective, & I usually blink my eyes & scratch my head. What the hell is "objective criticism"? There's no such animal. If you want to remain objective about a concert performance, you can pass on data of the sort that wouldn't interest any of your readers -- for example, how many tickets sold, the set list, what the band was wearing, the time the concert started & ended, & so on. But that isn't criticism; that isn't even reviewing. Criticism requires opining, & the moment you express an opinion, you have left the Land of Objectivity for good.

Was everyone there? He could of been right

Criticism has nothing to do with "right" or "wrong" -- it isn't something a computer could do as well or better; it isn't a litmus test; it isn't a lab experiment. It's the craftsmanlike expression of opinions, supported with cogent reasons, that prod your readers to think about aspects of the performance they hadn't noticed or processed in quite the same way.