I absolutely love reading Bob Lefsetz’s take on the music industry. He often says things many are only thinking, but afraid to speak of. This particular post hits home… how long are bands going to continue touring while playing the same set list?
“Do you really expect fans to overpay forever to hear the same damn songs?”
” It’s got to be about the music. And since you are a musician, you’ve got to do a different show.”
Hello KISS?
Read on and tell me you don’t agree with what he is saying.
At least Bob Dylan changes the arrangements.
Isn’t this how we got into trouble? Do you really expect fans to overpay forever to hear the same damn songs?
In other words, you need new material that people want to hear or the tickets have to be cheap. You might stop at Quiznos or McDonald’s every day, but you only go to Bermuda once every couple of years. Very few people love one vacation destination so much that they go there exclusively, in other words, one year Bermuda, one year Jamaica, one year the Virgin Islands…and then maybe even Hawaii. Then again, who can afford to go on vacation anymore?
Last time around Bon Jovi didn’t sell out, and blew out and gave away tickets. What in hell makes the band think business will be better next year? What are the indicators? When a product fades in the marketplace, the only way to juice sales is to reboot, refresh… Instead, we get Bon Jovi doing “Wanted Dead Or Alive” and “Livin’ On A Prayer” one more time.
I guess they could always do albums.
Then again, after “Slippery When Wet”, then..?
If you’re a major act going out next year for a big ticket price, you’d better reevaluate.
First you can drop the price. Dylan doesn’t charge much. If it’s about your greed, needing to make money to keep up your payments, you’re in trouble. It’s got to be about the music.
And since you are a musician, you’ve got to do a different show.
What if Bon Jovi went out acoustic. Every number with wooden instruments as CSN&Y used to say. Maybe the venues would be smaller, but people would overpay for this, it’d be a special event.
I’m not even sure social networking can goose the same show anymore. People have seen this. Win a contest to get on stage, write a song to open up the gig… That’s so 2010, and soon it’s gonna be 2011.
Cut the hubris. 2011 is the year to do something different, or stay home.
If you don’t, be ready to be victimized by the Web. Yup, that’s what happens. You can no longer give away tickets quietly, if there are empty seats people snap pictures and put them online DURING the show. As a result, demand is driven down for future dates.
It’s tough being a star.
But things are good if you’re a musician.
Do people really want to overpay to see Steely Dan one more time? Donald Fagen is better off building the Dukes Of September, at least it’s new, it’s vibrant, it’s not cast in amber like the shows of too many overpriced acts living on their laurels.
via Lefsetz Letter » Blog Archive » Bon Jovi’s Endless Tour.
I’ve been saying this for years. Its why I stopped getting excited about Kiss tours. I bought tickets this time around only because I got them for cheap. I’d rather save my money for the artists that change it up and do something different. Ironically they are also often MUCH cheaper than bands like Kiss and Jovi that do the same show year after year.
I had free KISS tickets this year and I didn’t go. 20 year old me would kick my ass in for that. Why didn’t I go? Was it that I already have a full show on DVD (bootleg) and have seen the tour that way? Is it because there are countless videos on youtube from each show each night? Maybe…maybe it’s because even with free tickets I’m spending a minimum of $150 for the evening with transportation, dinner, merch, etc…..I think the set list is a significant reason for me. While I’m excited to see the band do songs from Sonic Boom in new costumes…There are songs that are just plain tough to bare anymore. Bottom line is I should have attended this tour but 41 year old me put other things ahead of KISS for the VERY FIRST time in my life. Should I be proud of that? I’m not happy about it.
Steve my experience is very similar to you. 2009 tour was the first time since the Creatures tour that I did not go see KISS in concert. Reason… primarily the Alive 35 set list. It was not Alive and it was stale. Secondary… let down by all the hype of a new stage show. Nothing dramatically new. Same design just some video screens added. Exactly the same gags. They decide to let Tommy sing and he performs Shock Me, let Eric sing and he performs Beth. Both have two of the best songs on Sonic Boom. Am I happy, no. But I decided to vote with the only thing that matters to this band, my wallet.
Steve my experience is very similar to you. 2009 tour was the first time since the Creatures tour that I did not go see KISS in concert. Reason… primarily the Alive 35 set list. It was not Alive and it was stale. Secondary… let down by all the hype of a new stage show. Nothing dramatically new. Same design just some video screens added. Exactly the same gags. They decide to let Tommy sing and he performs Shock Me, let Eric sing and he performs Beth. Both have two of the best songs on Sonic Boom. Am I happy, no. But I decided to vote with the only thing that matters to this band, my wallet.
The #1 reason (among others, lol) that I haven’t seen a KISS show since 2000.
Hell, even if they got Ace & Peter back and Peter played his heart out, I still wouldn’t go unless one of my friends who’s never seen them suddenly really wanted to go to the show.
I really don’t ever need to see KISS, Paul, or Ace perform “Love Gun” or RARAN or “Shout It Out Loud” or even “Deuce” any more.
There’s only so many times one can see the same show. I’ve got multiple bookcases filled with CDs, there’s over 16,000 songs in my iTunes and that’s not even the whole collection, and I’m always adding new albums– meaning, there’s a hell of a lot of other bands and artists I haven’t seen and would much rather see for the first time, than see someone like Kiss for the 10th time doing the same show.
So it’s about being new, not necessarily
appealing music?
so we get bored with the newness of the bands.
no wonder we’re not happy…
It’s a delicate balance of providing familiarity and challenging your audience with something new. Personally, I don’t want the band to sound “just like the CD” (lol, so old skool), I want to hear the arrangements develop, and yet, there is part of me that is bitterly disappointed if they don’t do “that bit”. ie. I’m a big U2 fan, have seen them four times over the years on different tours (I’m in Australia so we tend to have to wait a bit) and not once have I experienced “’40”, live in the flesh, surrounded by my fellow fans in chorus, “How long to sing this song. How long…” They did it on other legs of the tour. Just gutted.
Remember, people don’t know what they like, they like what they know, and so you must strike the balance. You gotta give them the reason why they came while simultaneously taking them down new roads. If you don’t, you’ll alienate them and they won’t come again. I believe the Smashing Pumpkins are an example of that. Apparently they used to change the arrangements so drastically they were unrecognisable and people would leave half-way through. Perhaps someone can confirm or deny that for me.
In any case, it’s a balancing act.