Why do famous musicians do this?

Why do famous musicians do this?

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TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Monday 4th December 2017
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lrdisco said:
I really am not sure why the TALENT can play what they like.
They are being paid to do what the employers want(The public), try it at work just doing what ever you want. It usually ends badly.
Umm, you aren't their employer. You're their customer. Big difference. If you don't like what they choose to sell, don't buy...

Fastchas

2,639 posts

120 months

Monday 4th December 2017
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There was a very good interview on Radio WM a couple of weeks ago, interviewing Gary Numan.
He said he retreated away from performing because all everyone wanted to hear was 'Cars'. He doubted the audience wanted to hear it all the time but the organisers demanded it. He tried to get new material across but was stifled because of it.
He spoke of interviewers being made to promise NOT to raise the subject of that song but halfway into the interview they reneged on the promise and he was made to look sullen when pushed to answer.
He has since learned to relax a little about it and has begun to love it again.

Heartworm

1,922 posts

160 months

Monday 4th December 2017
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Fastchas said:
There was a very good interview on Radio WM a couple of weeks ago, interviewing Gary Numan.
He said he retreated away from performing because all everyone wanted to hear was 'Cars'. He doubted the audience wanted to hear it all the time but the organisers demanded it. He tried to get new material across but was stifled because of it.
He spoke of interviewers being made to promise NOT to raise the subject of that song but halfway into the interview they reneged on the promise and he was made to look sullen when pushed to answer.
He has since learned to relax a little about it and has begun to love it again.
GN is a great example and his tour name lets you know what era of material he will be playing, if it's named from the new album then it will be his modern songs, which have a very different sound to the old albums.

He also tours with a more nostalgic setlist, often under the name of an old album from the era, although at that it's more of a remix of Cars he plays these days.

Rh14n

940 posts

107 months

Monday 4th December 2017
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Saw Squeeze a few weeks ago. They're brilliant at mixing it up, slipping in a few new songs amongst their hits. They have such a back catalogue of hits it's hard to fit them all in but everyone wants to hear Tempted, Cool for Cats, Up the Junction, Another nail in my heart etc. etc. They never disappoint.

SlowcoachIII

304 posts

220 months

Monday 4th December 2017
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Willy Nilly said:
Shakermaker said:
Willy Nilly said:
I'm going to see the mighty Darkness on Thursday and I'll put a weeks wages on them playing Don't Let The Bells End. They did last time I saw them in December musicbiggrin
yes, I'm sure they will.

Last time I saw them, also in December, they played a few B-sides, some of their less known tracks, and then played all of Permission to Land cover-to-cover, and finished up with Don't Let the Bells End. It was their 10th Anniversary tour i guess, but they definitely know how to play to the crowd. Sadly I missed out on tickets this year. You will enjoy!
Sounds great!They are a really good night out.
You’ll love it, they put on a performance like no one else. I saw them early November a few years ago and they played ‘Don’t Let the Bells end’ complete with false snow so they definitely will in December!

GetCarter

29,358 posts

278 months

Monday 4th December 2017
quotequote all
TooMany2cvs said:
lrdisco said:
I really am not sure why the TALENT can play what they like.
They are being paid to do what the employers want(The public), try it at work just doing what ever you want. It usually ends badly.
Umm, you aren't their employer. You're their customer. Big difference. If you don't like what they choose to sell, don't buy...
Quite.

When I write music to order, I am working for an employer. When I perform music in public, it’s up to me what I perform, not the bloke in the crowd.

kev1974

4,029 posts

128 months

Monday 4th December 2017
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Reminds me of the time I went to see Elton John at the Camden Roundhouse a few years ago, might have been an Apple Music or BBC thing, can't remember. I'm not particularly a big fan of his, but I thought "hey he's a flipping massive name, he has to be worth a look, for his level of fame he must surely put on a good show". Nope, he did a whole load of obscure stuff from his previous couple of albums for the first hour, then did Your Song, then proudly announced "and now as a special treat for you, I'm going to perform the whole of my latest album, from beginning to end". Another hour of obscure rubbish and then goodbye. Stupid gimp.

Have seen Madonna do much the same many years ago, 90 minutes of obscure stuff you've still never heard to this day with Holiday somewhere in the middle as the one familiar hit. Miserable cow.

The aforementioned Queen + Adam Lambert, haven't seen that particular combo but did see Queen + Paul Rogers about ten years ago, and that was a stunning night, truly hit after hit, maybe it's simply that almost everything they've ever put out is now a hit?

Later this week I will see Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbot. Having seen him a few times before I know it will be a good gig, in fact I expect most of the concert will be old Housemartins and Beautiful South hits, he's not afraid to go right back a whole incarnation or two, if it's what the people buying the tickets want.

Back to Chris Rea who the OP said was grumpy. Well he has had both cancer and a stroke! I remember going to his Farewell Tour pre the cancer. Turns out it wasn't farewell after all, I guess I can forgive him.

CanAm

9,114 posts

271 months

Monday 4th December 2017
quotequote all
lrdisco said:
I really am not sure why the TALENT can play what they like.
They are being paid to do what the employers want(The public), try it at work just doing what ever you want. It usually ends badly.

Not everyone is a hardcore fan and they do want to hear the hits and highlights.
Just my view.
It is clearly billed as "The Road Songs for Lovers Tour" to promote his new album. And Chris Rea is well known for his lack of banter with the audience.

Willy Nilly

12,511 posts

166 months

Monday 4th December 2017
quotequote all
SlowcoachIII said:
Willy Nilly said:
Shakermaker said:
Willy Nilly said:
I'm going to see the mighty Darkness on Thursday and I'll put a weeks wages on them playing Don't Let The Bells End. They did last time I saw them in December musicbiggrin
yes, I'm sure they will.

Last time I saw them, also in December, they played a few B-sides, some of their less known tracks, and then played all of Permission to Land cover-to-cover, and finished up with Don't Let the Bells End. It was their 10th Anniversary tour i guess, but they definitely know how to play to the crowd. Sadly I missed out on tickets this year. You will enjoy!
Sounds great!They are a really good night out.
You’ll love it, they put on a performance like no one else. I saw them early November a few years ago and they played ‘Don’t Let the Bells end’ complete with false snow so they definitely will in December!
It will be the 3rd time I've seen them. The first was at Ally Pally and Justin came on stage suspended from the ceiling in a massive pair of tits hehe. I can't wait.

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

260 months

Monday 4th December 2017
quotequote all
There is the story about Neil Young doing a concert after finishing a new album. He knew the crowd wanted to hear all the familiar songs. so he told them he was going to play his new album first, but then play stuff they'd heard before.

He played his new album from start to finish. Twice.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 4th December 2017
quotequote all
The year DHFC came out which was 1986 (I think) I saw Chris Rea at Ipswich Gaumont and he did DHFC as an encore, all the Christmas lights twirling on stage as he sang it with his band, it was a great night, obviously like a lot of Christmas songs we've all heard once too often including Fairytale Of New York they can become a bit long in the tooth.
As for a prima donna moment this award for me has to go to Elvis Costello at the Linda McCartney memorial gig at the Royal Albert Hall, also on the bill were Paul McCartney, the Pretenders, George Michael, the late Lynden David Hall and a few others, most artist did a couple of their well known songs along with a Beatles cover, Costello decided to do obscure tracks trying to be 'too cool for school' shame really as he is a talent but also a bit of a tt which didn't surprise me as I had already read about the time he insulted the great Ray Charles.

Fastchas

2,639 posts

120 months

Tuesday 5th December 2017
quotequote all
kev1974 said:
Other stuff...

Later this week I will see Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbot. Having seen him a few times before I know it will be a good gig, in fact I expect most of the concert will be old Housemartins and Beautiful South hits, he's not afraid to go right back a whole incarnation or two, if it's what the people buying the tickets want.

Back to Chris Rea who the OP said was grumpy. Well he has had both cancer and a stroke! I remember going to his Farewell Tour pre the cancer. Turns out it wasn't farewell after all, I guess I can forgive him.
I'm going to Sheffield on Saturday to see Paul Heaton. My girlfriends brother went to school with him and gets tickets to his Sheffield gigs. Our's aren't free but we will get backstage passes later, maybe meet the dude/dudess.

Skyedriver

17,655 posts

281 months

Tuesday 5th December 2017
quotequote all
CanAm said:
It is clearly billed as "The Road Songs for Lovers Tour" to promote his new album. And Chris Rea is well known for his lack of banter with the audience.
Saw Chris at Newcastle just over a week ago
Tracks from new CD and plenty older stuff
His guitar work, especially considering he hasn't full use of his hand anymore plus an excellent band made a great night.
I've seen Chris a few times over the last 40 years (yes 40) first time was the Hoffbrauhaus in Newcastle (before the place became part of the pink triangle).
i think he prefers to let his music do the talking, I think he's actually quite a shy type, rather introvert at times. He did say once, I seem to recall that he had wanted to be known as a slide guitar player who did film scores not as a "pop star"

Ekona

1,652 posts

201 months

Tuesday 5th December 2017
quotequote all
Had this a couple of years back when we went to see Mark Knopfler at the O2. Now, I didn't expect him to play all the Dire Straits stuff, but neither was I expecting two hours of Irish folk music. He did play Sultans and R&J, which I'm grateful for, but I certainly wasn't expecting the rest to be so twee. Shame.


Metallica get it bang-on when they perform. They'll do some old random stuff and some covers, different at every show , but they'll also always do Sandman, Master Of Puppets etc. To not play your biggest one or two tracks is just a bit odd and insulting to the audience, so I'm with the OP on this.

castex

4,935 posts

272 months

Tuesday 5th December 2017
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You want karaoke? This time of year is good for that.
Adam lambert. Ha.

JLC25

572 posts

121 months

Wednesday 6th December 2017
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tim0409 said:
Bit of a thread highjack, but I went to see Queen (with Adam Lambert) last night and they were absolutely fantastic; they know what the audience want (their big hits) and go for it. I wasn't sure about the prospect of Adam Lambert but he is a) sufficiently talented and b) doesn't try to impersonate Freddie for it to work. It's had to imagine that Brian May and Roger Taylor are now 70/68!

Highlight was Brian May playing acoustic guitar and singing Love of my Life, and then seamlessly incorporating Freddie singing vocals on the big screen - superb!
It's a stage show really though isn't it? For very obvious reasons, Queen don't have new music to play, they've all gone on to do different things. Chris Rea is still writing and performing, and will want to play his latest material, as he probably considers it his best.

KAgantua

3,848 posts

130 months

Wednesday 6th December 2017
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lrdisco said:
I know its a bit of a 1st World issue but I went to see Chris Rea last night in Manchester and having paid £53 each for tickets he did his show then an encore but as it was December we thought he would at least play his Christmas hit "Driving home for Christmas" but oh no. Not a peep.

The whole crowd seemed dissapointed, let down. Yes he may be famous but I thought the reason for his show was to please the crowds who had spent a lot of money on tickets, drinke, transport etc.

He was awful anyway with no personality and did not interact with the audience at all. A prima donna it would seem, just there for his own ego.

Rant over.
This isnt the Digital Spy Showbiz forum...

schmunk

4,399 posts

124 months

Wednesday 6th December 2017
quotequote all
CanAm said:
lrdisco said:
I really am not sure why the TALENT can play what they like.
They are being paid to do what the employers want(The public), try it at work just doing what ever you want. It usually ends badly.

Not everyone is a hardcore fan and they do want to hear the hits and highlights.
Just my view.
It is clearly billed as "The Road Songs for Lovers Tour" to promote his new album. And Chris Rea is well known for his lack of banter with the audience.
How is Driving Home for Christmas not a "Road Song for Lovers"...?

confused

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Wednesday 6th December 2017
quotequote all
schmunk said:
CanAm said:
lrdisco said:
I really am not sure why the TALENT can play what they like.
They are being paid to do what the employers want(The public), try it at work just doing what ever you want. It usually ends badly.

Not everyone is a hardcore fan and they do want to hear the hits and highlights.
Just my view.
It is clearly billed as "The Road Songs for Lovers Tour" to promote his new album. And Chris Rea is well known for his lack of banter with the audience.
How is Driving Home for Christmas not a "Road Song for Lovers"...?

confused
Parrot somewhere, I suspect, but it certainly isn't on the track list for the CD...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Songs-Lovers-Chris-R...

Oh, wait - you thought it was a generic descriptive, rather than the name of his latest album...

FerdiZ28

1,355 posts

133 months

Wednesday 6th December 2017
quotequote all
What i've never understood is to what extent the sales of a new album (that is oft titular to the actual tour) of a very established act are improved by interlacing the tracks into a set list.

Metallica this year, prime example. Even Hetfield said that "we sort of have to play some from the new album" after playing a banger from the 80s/90s that everyone went nuts for. Sure, pick the clear best seller from the album and play that amongst the recognised stuff but keep the crowd happy who have paid a high fee to hear you live, use digital methods to promote the new stuff and weave it in to future tours.

ELO, the same. New album is excellent, however I'm sure the entire 02 would have preferred to hear how Horace Wimp was getting on than attempting to "get into" a new track.

Chas & Dave did it too a few years ago, at a more intimate venue, when they asked for requests (with their usual "we won't play Tottenham stuff" caveat), the crowd shouted "more old stuff" smile

I'd hazard a guess that an established act would be able to sell more dates if they guaranteed a setlist of their best selling hits and perhaps one new song, carefully picked to highlight/advertise the "vibe" of the new album.