Really interesting reading some of Kerry King’s comments about the current Mayhem tour (now in the news section) which features Slayer and King Diamond as headliners. The owner of the festival had made some comments about how difficult it is to keep viable metal acts that draw on a bill while also keeping costs down. He also made some comments about metal and the fans saying some of the artists have gotten “fat and bald and scared off girls” (not like girls were ever the driving force in this genre of metal!). Kerry is one of the most unfiltered people I have ever known in this business. He simply speaks his mind and always did. The tour is clearly struggling to draw and Kerry’s latest comments were basically saying it was not booked correctly. Was really interesting to see the leader of the headlining band on a Summer package tour being this honest. This all speaks to a bigger disturbing trend I can’t quite figure out. MANY bands at all levels being booked in venues they shouldn’t be in. I don’t know if it’s a by product of too many venues, too many bands on the road, or just too many bands over touring (a huge issue I think and a by product of no money from record sales), but every day I am scratching my head about concert bills I am hearing about at all levels in venues they should not be in. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out Slayer (now half original) and King wouldn’t be a big amphitheater draw. It’s not a knock on any act, it’s just common sense. But promoters are in a tough spot. They need these festivals and branded tours to go out, but they also can’t got to the next level of talent booking because it would destroy the tickets being affordable. I get that. What I don’t get is club acts in theaters, theater acts in arenas, etc. I would much rather see a band in a setting with a vibe and packed house full of energy than an arena curtained in half or half empty. Or a show that is “papered”, the industry term for giving away a ton of tickets just to make money on beer sales and get bodies in the room. You have no idea how many shows I am asked to help “paper” all the time because they are stiffing. It’s not the artists fault for the most part. It really falls on the agents and promoters to know what they are buying and know if people will care. There is no amount of marketing anyone can do if people don’t want to see a band or have seen them too often. And although a largely papered show may give the appearance of people in the building, it is also easy to feel in the room since most are indifferent because they got in for free. It’s a catch 22 in some ways. Bands need to tour because tickets and merch are pretty much their primary income, but too many tour too much and as a result their draw has been shot. You’re seeing it at the festival level as well. There are a ton of them now, many with very similar bills. Something the organizers of Download in the UK (a huge yearly event) recently discussed as an emerging issue in the business. The idea of a festival was to be a special destination gig. Now they are everywhere. A rock themed cruise used to be unique, now there are many of all genres. It’s just massive over saturation and will impact the little guys more, because the big super acts will for the most part always be able to sell.
Which leads to the next question; what happens when the super acts are done? AC/DC, likely the last tour I would think. As it is there was no real tour, more special scattered stadium dates. Brian is 68? Aerosmith? Tyler as great as he is is 68 and now looking toward country. Sabbath, likely done as far as touring but maybe another run? Van Halen? Anything can happen and it was surprising to read in a recent Billboard article the current tour has been a bit soft in some places selling tickets (apparently ticket prices an issue here as well). Rush? Pretty much done touring. Kiss? Believe what you want but they haven’t been a headline arena act in the US since 2000. Which is why they have co-headlined sheds (and a huge difference between sheds and arenas by the way) for the most part here. Regardless they are likely near the end for what’s left of the original band. Motley? Done in a few months. And they got a huge pop playing the Farewell card and wisely had a name legend opening all the dates. Priest? Said they were done, pulled a reverse, and are hanging in a bit more. But they have not been a full arena headline in a long time here. Maiden? Maybe the biggest global metal act along with Metallica. New album coming and dates in 2016, but these guys are not getting younger and Bruce already had a major health scare and we don’t know yet how he will recover from it. Bon Jovi? Like them or not a massive global stadium act even with just 3 original members. How much more does Jon want to work in his early 50s and with other interests? Where are the next true headliners?
Metallica is erratic as far as how much they play and making new music. But that actually may work to their favor since they far from over tour. You have to hope bands like A7X, FFDP, etc, continue to grow. Foo Fighters are clearly the biggest rock act out there right now and cross over to many genres appealing to rock and metal fans. But outside of Foos, and what Metallica has left in the tank, we really need to hope some of these emerging guys warming up in the bullpen can graduate to the big big leagues. Which leads to an even bigger question. Is that even possible now the way the music is and the way it’s consumed? For a while it was trying to sell downloads. Now that seems to be abandon in favor of just hoping people LISTEN to the music. That’s what streaming is. Don’t even own it, give us nothing, just listen to it! So music has become so devalued today that I wonder if that translates and stagnates an artists potential to even become huge again? This is all just out loud thinking and I welcome your comments and thoughts here. But one thing that does bother me (besides the lack of regard for physical ownership of music) is seeing artists booked in venues they have no business being in, and people saying; “look, I told you rock was dead”. Nobody’s rooting for this stuff more than me. But we have to hope there is a new generation to carry the flag and people embrace new artists they are hearing that they like so the next generation of rock and metal fans has something to celebrate. We are at the tail end of what’s left of the golden era of rock and metal from the 70’s and the 80’s. As for 90’s guys? Foos rule that pack and Pearl Jam are certainly alive and more than well. Soundgarden still viable, but not that consistent as far as playing. AIC? Same deal. Pumpkins and Manson? Currently co headlining sheds. Foos and Pearl Jam the biggest from that era. So where are we at 10 years from now? I wonder and curious what you guys think? Let’s hope there is a kid in his garage somewhere right now with a guitar that has the answer..
After 1992, MTV stopped playing metal videos and, then they stopped playing videos altogether. My questions is why did no one come along and create another music video station once MTV was no longer Music Television?
There is a video channel called Fuse, but they were a little late in the game,unfortunately.
D from ET.com 🙂
When Fuse started out, it played cutting edge music and I used to have it on all the time Then they decided to switch to something more main-stream (read:boring crap). Then they went into hip hop which for me was the death knell. Right now FUSE is a useless pop station.
Do all the VH bashers demand to sit in the front row every show? There are great pavilion seats on this tour selling for less than $75 face. All people do is whine about ‘$150’ tickets. If you can’t afford that, buy cheaper seats! We sat in the third to last row at the Red Rocks show on Monday, and would guarantee that we had as good of a time, if not better, than the people in the $150 seats. They are ripping it up on this tour! It’s a mistake if you miss this tour. The setlist is amazing, and Roth is just fine…can’t wait for the show on Friday!
If the cheapest ticket for a shed tour is in the $100 range that can be a problem for many. Even at $75 with fees it’s $100 each. Most cheap seats for these venues are around $35..
That is true, but there’s always lawn tix. I was just saying that pavillion seats can be had at every show for much less than the $150 people are complaining about. I’m in the lawn in Chicago for VH tomorrow night for $40. You don’t have to be in the front row or spend $150 a ticket to have a great time at a show…especially VH, who is completely kicking ass out there!
Eddie, I think that it really is a symptom of music becoming a disposable commodity. I’m not sure that people, especially younger people, are internalizing music enough to generate a long-lasting, huge stadium/arena act.
The removal of the idea that music is something on a physical item plays a part in this downturn. Music has become a transient experience. I am as guilty as anyone in falling into the convenience iPod and iTunes generated, but I also no longer have any clue about song orders, producers, release dates or any of the other information that I would absorb as I stared at album and cassette covers back in the day. I buy albums on a whim, don’t listen to them immediately, and then forget I bought them. I sometimes can’t tell what album a song is off of, which is something 17-year-old me would never have conceived of. It has somewhat taken the “fanatic” out of being a fan for me. And the youth are growing up in this climate with no residual concept of any other way. It’s also increasingly uncool to be “that into” bands, caring too much isn’t cool, you see.
And yes, bands are being booked into arenas far too large for them. Recently I saw Volbeat/Anthrax at my local arena which seats 15,000 and has the worst acoustics in the world. The crowd really tried, but at half-capacity you can’t fill that kind of space with noise. It felt dead. On the other hand, my favorite band Electric Six (who are virtually unknown and not metal by any means) play a local bar in Saskatoon every year, and it is always the best concert I attend due to it being a lively, intimate show.
Music may never be recommoditized in physical form, but until people start investing time to be “fanatics” again, there will be no huge bands.
Most of the concerts I’ve been to this year have been classic bands. But the spectacle of going to big shows will probably die once all those bands call it quits for good. That makes me sad. There’s a few bands that can hopefully carry the torch (Eddie mentioned a few) but the golden age of hard rock and metal is gone. I’m just glad I was able to witness it in it’s glory days. I’ll always support new bands I like, but any of them becoming major arena headliners is not going to happen. I’m just being realistic. It doesn’t mean rock music is dead, it’s just not as popular as it used to be. I can’t see a new band getting to the concert level Rush is at. Hell, most older bands can no longer get to that level. But with the future of all my favorite classic bands uncertain at best, I’ll just continue going to see as many as I can, whether in arenas, sheds or clubs. I’ll rock until the day I die, no matter if it’s fashionable or not.
How funny is it that Eddie is sick of people saying “Rock is Dead” – maybe because you are finally starting to realize that it is unfortunately true. I posted this same comment OVER and OVER again for years now, even before Gene Simmons made the comment, just to have everyone attack me.
So one more time, LISTEN UP. I want my music to live on as much as anyone else – but I REFUSE to pretend like everyone else has that the “NEXT WAVE” is hopefully around the corner. ITS NOT and it it will NEVER come. I have worked with teens for years and the reason why ROCK IS DEAD is PURLEY sociological.
Kids have LOST the natural CALL to be TRULY angry anymore, to rebel anymore – their electronics and pop culture (and politicians) have stifled this natural curiosity ( in young men especially) and they would rather listen to that stupid HAPPY song instead of one of these new rock bands you guys keep touting, (who I don’t think they are any good anyway). Even with everything going on in the world, kids WOULD HAVE BEEN listening to some angry, anthemic rock music – but they aren’t anymore because that natural sense in kids is DEAD. Again, they blindly would rather make some CRAPPY piece of shit song called HAPPY #1…….THERE IS NOTHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT IN THE WORLD! SO WHY WON’T THEY REBEL AGAINST IT BY ROCKING OUT???
AGAIN – BECAUSE THAT SENSE IS DEAD.
…and STOP quoting your own kids that listen to your cd’s and play your guitar, or younger cousins with the shirts and long hair or anyone in a small town that has a band, because unfortunately they are not the majority. The new URBAN youth culture (that has RULED for YEARS now) think all our music is CORNY and WHITE. HOW FUCKING TERRIBLE IS THAT? THEY THINK IT IS WHITE. MEANING LAUGHABLE, STUPID AND BAD. Please do not ignore this. They say it EVERYDAY.
You will NEVER have a random band change the mind of urban youth culture to stop listening to KANYE WEST OR BEYONCE so can we please just agree THAT THIS IS IT???
Again, I HATE it as much as you do but denial makes you all sound PATHETIC. We WILL see rock music go the way of Big Band Music and there is nothing we can do about it except STOP MAKING FUN OF OUR AGING LEGENDS LIKE WE ALWAYS DO and just support all the acts whether in clubs or arenas and play/celebrate their music everyday as our ship continues to sink into oblivion.
I myself just saw Flotsam & Jetsam 2 weeks ago in a club and will see Def Leppard tomorrow. I LOVE supporting them and wont stop until they are all DONE. Thats all we can do. There is no more. This is ending, never to return.
I hate this too everyone and sorry to sound so grim Eddie, but you will not see any other way with this EVER so Gene Simmons WAS right.
I completely disagree that rock is dead or dying. I think TOURING in general in all genres is drying up because of over saturation and over touring. Record sales bring no money to artists when it used to be their financial base. Now touring is. So there is too much of it and consumers can’t support it
Rock is not dead. And I don’t think rock will ever die.
However, I also don’t think rock will ever be the dominant genre like it was from the early 60s though the 1980s. Rock had its golden age. Sadly, that age is over. Once the old guard is one, there’s not a lot of bands that I’m into that’ll take their place.
But, there’s still bands out there. And I do think the music from the glory years will continue to find new audiences and inspire new bands.
But, will it ever be like it was in the 60s, 70s, and 80s with waves of great bands and great albums coming out? Probably not.
While I agree rock isn’t dead, what I sort of implied in my earlier comment was, the younger generations do not care about rock, for a couple of reasons:
1. The world has changed and how the youth acquires, and listens to music, has changed.
2. Rock does not have the commercial push from record companies and media outlets, such as radio and video music channels, anymore. As both, have changed their business models.
While rock may not be dead, I fear the passionate rock fan might be, at least in America. Japan and South America seem to still care about it, but in this country, what really sells is unimaginative, homogenized pop music and boy bands, or gangsta rap.
While over touring may be an issue, it only a symptom of the larger problem, which is a lack of interest in the genre. When the generation that still cares about the music moves on to greener pastures, as I said before, rock either needs a renaissance, or I think it could be in trouble.
D from ET.com 🙂