Nostalgia Tours: Reviving Careers or Denying the Inevitable?

This is a super interesting topic. My favorite bands - Matchbox Twenty, No Doubt, and the Wallflowers - did not do 20 year tours to support those great albums.

On the one hand, I think "why leave money on the table like that? why not give people what they want?" But I read a RCHP interview recently where Flea talked about how hard it was to play "Give It Away" for the 50,000th time, which has to be painful. I don't want people judging me by the work I did 10 years ago, let alone 5 years ago. I want to be judged based on what I'm doing now.

On the other hand, I think a lot of these people don't want to work together anymore. I think Adrian, Tom, and Tony have some issues with Gwen that need to be resolved. (And I don't think she should be playing No Doubt tracks without them on her current tour.) I think Kyle from Matchbox Twenty has some issues with Rob. I don't ever speak to my old colleagues from past jobs, so I can sort of understand.

TLDR: Never leave money on the table, but I see both sides of the issue.

 

Ah the ole Taking Back Sunday/Motion City Soundtrack problem.

It's tough. Taste is finicky. Do fans want older materiel because theyre casual and that's all they know? Or is it because bands newest materiel is garbage?

TLDR: Every band is different, and band ego vs financial realities of performing is judged differently.

 

Bands like Hawthorne Heights, Alesana and Red Jumpsuit are basically delaying the inevitable but I think a band like The Used found new life doing this. I caught their tour with Every Time I Die 2 years ago and Starland Ballroom went from 50-60% full to about 25% full after ETID. This year they did the S/T and ILAD albums and sold Starland out both nights. I compare this to doing covers, which is the equivalent of hard drugs for bands. Sure it feels great doing it but then that's all people are going to ask for and less and less people will care about your originals. That's what's going on with Our Last Night right now. People love stuff they know and can relate to. If you give them too much of that because you enjoy the success you're having, I think it'll be game over for your band.

TLDR: It's not that long. Read the fucking thing lol

 

Double edged sword for bands, and fans. I saw the early november a few months ago and they practically ignored Imbue. What a sin.

 

If it was ToC, they were the opening band on a pretty nostalgic tour. I think they played 2 off of Imbue which is a pretty good amount given the circumstances.

 

Good bands know how to work in new songs into their setlist. While it's rare that a new song might become a new favorite or a new ending song or whatever, there are plenty of great bands that know how to incorporate new material into their set.

I'm looking at you New Found Glory, aka the reason i can see them over and over again without getting bored. Mixing up their setlist, mixing in new, only really keeping 2 songs as staples, etc.

 

Nah it was with Movielife, TEN headlined. Still, i guess i should have assumed since they picked movielife as support, they would be catering fans who were around in the movielife era

 

Wow, a headlining set and they didn't play too many new songs. That is pretty odd.

 

I struggle with this and Bayside, who i've seen probably 12 times. Now Bayside has many great albums, so the situation is a little different than say Yellowcard, who have some very good albums but one big one (or Senses Fail with Let it Enfold You). But for Bayside, I could honestly go without hearing Montauk again for the 12th time if it means hearing something off Shudder, which always gets fucked. But the caveat is that Bayside will always get a response from Montauk, because it's one of their most recognized songs. So I don't expect them to ever stop playing it. Oh well.

 

It's really case-by-case with the full album tours. To use a few examples:

Cartel's Chroma tour was an awesome (probably) farewell tour and celebration, giving them the chance to play to larger venues and crowds than usual.

Silverstein's Discovering the Waterfront tour was a great time, but they played venues they'd ordinarily play anyway. It was just a nice chance to recognize a fan-favorite, and they played a solid opening set with other songs from throughout their history.

On the other hand, using an above example, there's acts like Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, where the tour concept is pretty desperate.

 

PLAY US A SONG IIIIIII KNOW

MAKE IT AN OLDER ONE

DON'T YOU GET IT