"will be playing such an album in full" - the new marketing ploy

NIMAN

I have been listening to how Primal Scream will be playing Screamadelica 'in full' (big deal) for the last few months, and now I heard another advert for another band playing an album of theirs in full - can't think who it was now.

Is this really such a big deal?

Toast

Couldn't tell you who started it though first I heard of it was the ATP Don't Look Back series. It seems to be particularly popular of reformed bands or bands who may have faded in popularity with their more modern stuff. It is basically a guarantee for fans that they'll hear the songs they like and not a set full of new songs they may not like. It is popular so we'll be seeing more of it.

johnnykilo

Well if you like the particular album that they're going to play from start to finish then yes. I agree a lot of the time it is a marketing ploy, but especially with older bands there's usually a few early iconic albums that made them big and which most of the fans would like to see.

So it's nice for the fans to have the option to see these early albums being played start to finish rather than going to see them playing say a current album which most of the crowd don't want to hear and a few classics thrown in. The band and the fans win as far as I'm concerned.

And yes I know that not everyone wants to hear the old stuff, but in the case of bands that have been around for about 10 years, most people in my experience generally just want to hear the songs that made them famous not the new stuff.

Edit: Actually it kind of reminds me of this Big Train sketch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1YNEtaHbzA

Mickolution

First I remember doing it was Brian Wilson with Pet Sounds around 10 years ago. Not sure if he was the first, though.

jossnjuice

big deal? maybe not.

but i know as a springsteen fan that id have given a serious amount of time and money, and possibly body parts to hear Greetings from Asubry Park or the Wild and the Innocent E Street shuffle played through, which happened towards the end of the last leg in america of the working on a dream tour.

it varies it up, not only for the audience, but also for the band, if they can pull on more than just the regular set for gigs.

honru

Might be a big deal for a particular gig-goer if it's one of their favourite albums or an album they really like. I think it has become more popular as it gives bands a novel way to go out on tour when they may not have a new album to promote.

Rick Deckard

I wish the stone roses would use this marketing ploy.

Instead, they have said next summer will not be a greatest hits tour, but a showcase for their new stuff.

As a result I didnt buy a ticket, and I was a massive sr fan back in my hayday..

Viva La Gloria

Less Than Jake did 6 nights, 6 albums in Florida and London in 2007. They played nearly every single song in their discography by adding in 'requests' after the last track of each album every night. They even got their old alto sax player back to play the older songs. Amazing.

Basq

I think Counting Crows did a live tour with shows consisting of their debut album 'August And Everything After' played from start to finish.. one of my favourite albums so I'd have enjoyed that!

Can't say I've seen it much elsewhere though!

discobeaker

The pixies did 3 nights in the olympia and played Doolittle and all the B-Sides.
I thought ok,60 euro for a ticket,they will play the album then the B-sides,take a quick break and come back and play for another 45 mins and play a "Best of" but no!

Doolittle and B-Sides and all done in 50 mins. No support act either!!!!! Never felt so ripped off by a gig in my life

RayCon

I like it when a band does this with one of the iconic / classic albums - although I wouldn't agree it's a new concept (I agree it is marketed that way) ...

I saw Marillion play Misplaced Childhood in it's entirety in 85-ish , Queensryche playing all of Operation Mindcrime in 91 ... and ...

Pink Floyd were playing Dark Side Of The Moon in it's entirety in 1972 (although I wasn't at this one :pac:).

-Chris-

It's definitely a marketing ploy, and something we'll see more and more of, but I really think it's a (fairly) good trend both for fans and the bands.

If Guns n Roses were to announce they were playing here, and would be playing Appetite For Destruction in its entirety, I'd be far more likely to buy a ticket than I otherwise would, because I'm guaranteed that I'll get an hour of the music I love rather than paying a fortune to get lumbered with listening to a whole load of tracks I don't particularly like.

Same with Metallica - I loved them when I was a teenager, but my interest in them waned after the Black album. I'm far more likely to buy a ticket if they say they'll play Master of Puppets from end-to-end, because it's a guarantee of "quality" for me.
It also has the benefit for the band that the next time they come over, all they have to do is play a different album (e.g. Justice) and I'll happily pay top dollar to see them again.

They get repeat customers for their live shows, I get a unique experience, they get to expose me to the new music they're currently promoting.

It's win-win!

delbertgrady

As already mentioned, I think Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds tour may have been the first example of this.
One of the most impressive cases of the "playing an album from start to finish" show is Sparks, who played each of their twenty-one albums in their entirety, one per night, during a residency in London in 2008. :eek:

Herb Powell

I saw Megadeth play all of Rust in Piece last year. Quality shtuff. They didn't just play that album though, they played about 6 other songs too.

lil'bug

The Cure have done this a few times, they played 3 albums in one night in a 2 day event over in Berlin. i bought the DVD and it was amazing, I'd have given my eye teeth to be in the crowd that night

ItsAWindUp

Rick Deckard wrote: »

I wish the stone roses would use this marketing ploy.

Instead, they have said next summer will not be a greatest hits tour, but a showcase for their new stuff.

As a result I didnt buy a ticket, and I was a massive sr fan back in my hayday..

They didn't say that

keith16

Metallica played 'Master of Puppets' in full in the RDS a few years ago, put they played on for about on hour after that with a mix of everything else. Don't think it was pre-announced, but still great for the fans.

Nine Inch Nails did something similar in NY I think, playing 'The Downward Spiral' in full, it wasn't pre-announced and I would kill to have seen that show, such an iconic album - imagine the thrill of realising maybe three or four songs into the set that the whole album would be played!

In light of this, some of the examples discussed here where the announcement is made in advance do seem like sad marketing ploys. If the band has a decent following, the shows should sell without the need for this type of behaviour. In addition, it takes away from the anticipation of seeing the show when you know what's coming, even if it is the 'decent older stuff'.

Billy Mays

discobeaker wrote: »

The pixies did 3 nights in the olympia and played Doolittle and all the B-Sides.
I thought ok,60 euro for a ticket,they will play the album then the B-sides,take a quick break and come back and play for another 45 mins and play a "Best of" but no!

Doolittle and B-Sides and all done in 50 mins. No support act either!!!!! Never felt so ripped off by a gig in my life

That's bad form alright. Saw them do the Doolittle gig in New York but they came back on after playing the full album and did another 7 or 8 songs. Deadly gig.

Rick Deckard

ItsAWindUp wrote: »

They didn't say that

Having trouble finding where i read about it alright..

RonMexico

Rick Deckard wrote: »

I wish the stone roses would use this marketing ploy.

Instead, they have said next summer will not be a greatest hits tour, but a showcase for their new stuff.

As a result I didnt buy a ticket, and I was a massive sr fan back in my hayday..

Oh christ I don't even know where to begin...:rolleyes:

Rick Deckard

RonMexico wrote: »

Oh christ I don't even know where to begin:

Try

ItsAWindUp

Rick Deckard wrote: »

Having trouble finding where i read about it alright..

What they said was that the tour wouldn't just be a trip down memory lane, and that they would be playing new material too. Easy mistake to make!

rcaz

I dunno if it's a 'marketing plot', it's not like it's a dishonest way to make a gig. It's totally different from a regular show as well. You can pick a setlist of all the songs you've ever written that will go well together in a 2 hour gig, but if you're gonna play an album in sequence, you're playing a whole load of songs that came from one creative period, one set of recording sessions, that may or may not work well on stage. The show would be cohesive in a whole other way from a regular gig. I'm raging I didn't get to see The Flaming Lips playing The Soft Bulletin live, they were playing in London along with Deerhoof plaing Milk Man and Dinosaur Jr. playing Bug. Would have been an amazing gig

Rick Deckard wrote: »

As a result I didnt buy a ticket, and I was a massive sr fan back in my hayday..

...So you're a massive Stone Roses fan, and because of that, you don't want to hear their new stuff?

Sinfonia

I quite like the idea (annoyed that I missed QOTSA's Olympia gig in May), but particularly if the album itself is cohesive/conceived as a single work, rather than 12 (or however many) discrete songs.

A fantasy gig of mine would be Sigur Rós performing ( ).
For extra niceness it'd either be Olympia (I'm sitting Balcony Row A) or Grand Canal (sitting I guess around Stalls Row H or something).

rednik

I've seen David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Rush all do this. Gilmour in the Royal Albert Hall played On an Island. After a couple of nights someone told him to play something a bit more familiar at the start of the show, so he played three tracks from DSOTM before launching into On an Island. Waters played DSOTM and Rush played Moving Pictures. Luckily enough these are good albums and great to hear live the worry would be albums that have a lot of filler tracks.

Rick Deckard

El Pr0n wrote: »

...So you're a massive Stone Roses fan, and because of that, you don't want to hear their new stuff?

WAS a big fan, 20 years ago.. The auld knees wouldn't be happy with me in a field to be listening to newer tripe.

Happy new year lads

acquiescefc

Sinfonia wrote: »

I quite like the idea (annoyed that I missed QOTSA's Olympia gig in May), but particularly if the album itself is cohesive/conceived as a single work, rather than 12 (or however many) discrete songs.

gig of the year for me...sorry. never seen the olympia going as wild since Foos in 2000.


on the subject,i think it works if the band can recreate/enhance said album. if its just a cashing in gig a lot of ppl are gonna be disappointed.

Jimmy Iovine

Rakim toured with that type of a gig last year. He played a full version of "Paid in Full". I wasn't able to go to it. Absolutely gutted that I missed out on it.

Raekwon did the same with "Only Built for...". Again I wasn't able to go to it, and again I was gutted.

Generally I wouldn't be too bothered with them kind of gigs. If some classics were being played though then I'd go out of my way to see them, eg. "Ilmatic", "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", some of Eminem's earlier albums and any by Ghostface Killah. I'd walk to Dublin from home just to see them being played.

paddylonglegs

NIMAN wrote: »

I have been listening to how Primal Scream will be playing Screamadelica 'in full' (big deal) for the last few months, and now I heard another advert for another band playing an album of theirs in full - can't think who it was now.

Is this really such a big deal?

Don't think you need to look at it as a 'ploy' OP. All gigs are ways of marketing anyway aren't they?

Bands have had to work alot harder to make their money in the past 5-10 years due to music piracy, hence the huge choice of gigs now, so this is a new way of bands to sell themselves.

Most albums that are played live in their entirety are iconic ones that had received accolades when released. People will want to relive those and would relish the opportunity to hear tracks that the artist would never have got the chance to play live because they were not as popular when the band got bigger. There have been a few bands that I'm gutted I missed out on during the last year because I remember every single song on that album they were gigging.

Mickolution

Jimmy Iovine wrote: »

Raekwon did the same with "Only Built for...". Again I wasn't able to go to it, and again I was gutted.

The Raekwon one was advertised as that, but was just a regular gig. He was doing stuff off all albums and it was a shambles. Good fun, but not a great gig.

eoin1981

1989. lou reed toured his album "new york" and played it from start to finish every night. he's a damn genius.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Iron Maiden did that in 2006 in the point. They played all their newest album, but only announced it on the night. I was pissed off. some good songs on the album, but they didnt play The Trooper or run to the hills.

paddylonglegs

Scarlette Curved Gardener wrote: »

Iron Maiden did that in 2006 in the point. They played all their newest album, but only announced it on the night. I was pissed off. some good songs on the album, but they didnt play The Trooper or run to the hills.

seems pointless to play an entire new album. seems people would prefer to hear older or iconic albums

whiterob81

I was at that Iron Maiden gig. Honestly, I thought it was really bad. That album a matter of life and death is definitely one of their poorer ones. lots of really long unmemorable dreary songs.

The only other full album gig I've been to was when Metallica played Master of Puppets in the RDS and it was probably the best gig I've ever been at.

sort of tempted to check out the lemonheads playing it's a shame about ray this april but overall whole album gigs don't interest me a huge amount. A lot of the time it seems to be a last ditch effort by a band that's past their creative best to keep their flagging career going for a few months more

poundhound

Seen the following albums played in full live...
Operation Mindcrime - Queensryche,
Brave - Marillion
Dark Side of the Moon - Roger Waters
Low / Heathen David Bowie
The Wall - Roger Waters
Oxegene - Jean Michel Jarre
A Matter of Life and Death - Iron Maiden
Coming Up - Suede
Dog Man Star - Suede
Greendale - Neil Young
Songs of Faith and Devotion - Depeche Mode
The Pleasure Principle - Gary Numan
Replicas - Gary Numan