80s bands now the only way to fill venues

guylikeme

Metallica
Guns and roses
Bon jovi
U2
Rolling stones
RHCP

And so forth..

Is it the publics lack of taste in good new bands or the promotors and venue managers not taking a chance any more.

Fast forward 20 years. Who of today's era could headline Slane. It's frightening.

OTOH with a bit of luck the planet will be mince meat by then

engiweirdo

Good new bands? Where?

Yamanoto

Some talented bands mentioned there.

What irks me more is nostalgia alone seems enough in & of itself to transform what was utterly anodyne crud like Westlife into pure gold 15 years down the line.

lalababa

Big bands and these type of concerts are not as popular to the younger generations. They have more choice with Google for music (so one particular band or gendre can't become a mainstay for a particular age group)and other interests such as gaming.
Concert going can be expensive seems to me.
Why go to a concert to hang out with your friends when you can just what's app them and send them a YouTube vid on whatever interests them atm.

Dravokivich

Op I dont think you are onto anything really. Rolling stones aren't 80s for one.

There's much less invested in individual groups now, and their focus tends not to be on headlining big venues. A lot of tours tend to run with festivals as far as I can see. Otherwise generally target smaller venues over a number of cities/towns. Any major act coming from now will find it really hard to sell a 40k venue let alone be top bill on something for 80k+, with very few exceptions such as ed sheran.

Birneybau

RHCP are way more of a 90s band.

Anyway, put money on Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs headlining Slane in 2020.

Supported by Sleaford Mods. Or vice versa. I don't bleedin' know, I'm no psychic.

Harry Palmr

****e like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift can sell out large venues but whether they'll be doing so in 20/30 years is another matter - it feels like there are not many acts and even fewer actual bands of the last 10 years who could sell out a stadium tour.

Guy:Incognito

What current bg bands are not selling out their gigs?




The truth is more likely " bands around since the 80s also selling out venues"

Littlehorny

I think I read that Justin Bieber was the only young un to be in the top 5 biggest tours of last year, the other 4 were U2, Metallica, Madonna and Guns N Roses.
If your relying on Biebs to be a torch bearer for the future your fooked alright, also haven't ABBA been persuaded to tour again? If this happens then then this will break records all over the shop.

BumChum

There is that new thing with Abba...some bollockry got to do with projected images or something. Basically, the 1970's versions of each member will be going "on tour" soon (while the actual members slowly turn to dust)

That's the future, projections of never-aging good bands.....forever!

JohnnyFlash

Auld lads have been lamenting the death of music since Mozart was a child. Where there is human creativity there will always be great music.

BumChum

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Auld lads have been lamenting the death of music since Mozart was a child. Where there is human creativity there will always be great music.

I don't know man, I spent a year writing an original piece once.

Turned out to be an exact copy of whacko jacko's thriller, but with different lyrics.

Birneybau

BumChum wrote: »

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Auld lads have been lamenting the death of music since Mozart was a child. Where there is human creativity there will always be great music.

I don't know man, I spent a year writing an original piece once.

Turned out to be an exact copy of whacko jacko's thriller, but with different lyrics.

Filler?

BumChum

Birneybau wrote: »

Filler?

Nah, was a story about baking bread in Prussia, "Oh My Crumb".

You'd reckon Vincent Price would have told me in the studio while doing his monologue about yeast.

He needed the money I suppose.

Filmer Paradise

Young people now have so many other distractions.

I was an '80s teen & Looking at Top of the Pops was a highlight of the week for myself & my peers.

That day is long over.

Same way with TV. 25 years ago, everyone would have watched the same program/film or whatever at the same time.

Next day in work, everyone was on the same page.

That's all gone now.

rossie1977

Rock music hasn't really produced a crossover band(s) with longevity in 20 years. Stones are a 60s/70s band btw as they had most success during those decades although still successful in 80s.

If you look at the biggest touring acts in the states this summer it's the modern country music stars such as Swift, Kenny Chesney then more easy listening stuff such as Ed Sheeran and Jay-Z/Beyoncé who are currently touring together.
http://www.venuesnow.com/news/detail/hot-tickets-oct-4
http://www.venuesnow.com/news/detail/hot-tickets-sept-6-2018
http://www.venuesnow.com/news/detail/hot-tickets-aug-30

If you look at the biggest acts there is a distinct lack of acts that young men say 15-35 age group would follow or attend in big numbers. Which is interesting because throughout the 60-90s stadium shows were filled with that particular demo.

Birneybau

Would be hard to find a non sold out Radiohead gig.

Rothko

engiweirdo wrote: »

Good new bands? Where?

All over the world

nullzero

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Auld lads have been lamenting the death of music since Mozart was a child. Where there is human creativity there will always be great music.

That's an easy argument to make, but today's popular music is extremely homogeneous and creativity is seemingly at odds with the profit making potential of what is now a much smaller industry compared to what it was over the past half century or so.

Anyone over thirty will have experienced a time when popular music was perhaps the biggest influence over culture and will be conditioned to think in terms of that being a perpetual notion.

Ultimately music is less important in this day and age and the industry is desperate to retain any profit they can muster from it by only bringing the most "safe" products to market, but in doing so they are making music even less interesting and in turn less important to the point where the model of artists, record labels and publishers that worked to successfully in the past will no longer function in the near future.

I remember reading an article in Q magazine about twenty years ago about how the Internet could potentially affect the music industry and they were reasonably accurate in as much as they fore saw the death of the hitherto untouchable music retailers in favour of at that point unspecified online alternative.

Maybe napster was the beginning of the end in a way but the Internet created a situation in which the money available to artists would never be the same as it had previously been. Bands/artists would never been given the freedom or financial backing to create things in the shape of the great experimental albums of the past that pushed music into different directions and widened the breath of what popular music could be. The Internet is no longer waiting in the long grass to ambush the music industry it is reality and demand has created a situation where nobody purchases music as if it were a precious art form but rather it is rented and is never the tangible thing it was in the past, no more carefully crafted sleeves, just a jpeg on your phone. The days of letting artists explore and experiment are no longer financially viable, artists who try different things still exist but they are no longer the concern of an industry who can ill afford to gamble on something that isn't immediately bankable.

You can't really blame a business for wanting to make money, but these people are painting themselves into a corner and I personally long for a time when the lumbering corpse of the music industry as we know it is finally buried for good. Where popular music goes from there is anyone's guess but the business model of the twentieth century is in its death throes and its current output is akin to a death rattle.

enfant terrible

Harry Palmr wrote: »

****e like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift can sell out large venues but whether they'll be doing so in 20/30 years is another matter - it feels like there are not many acts and even fewer actual bands of the last 10 years who could sell out a stadium tour.

Taylor Swift to be fair is a great song writer.

EricPraline

guylikeme wrote: »

Metallica
Guns and roses
Bon jovi
U2
Rolling stones
RHCP

And so forth..

Is it the publics lack of taste in good new bands or the promotors and venue managers not taking a chance any more.

Fast forward 20 years. Who of today's era could headline Slane. It's frightening.

OTOH with a bit of luck the planet will be mince meat by then

Rolling Stones an 80s band? That's a stretch! Metallica and RHCP's biggest selling albums were also early 90s.

And Ed Sheeran is also apparently the most reliable Irish venue filler.

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2017/0708/888705-those-ed-sheeran-tickets-are-moving-fast/

That said, it is hard to imagine what the equivalent Slane gig would be in 15 years time.

Birneybau

I'm not going to quote NullZero's great post but, thanks to the internet and internet radio, I pretty much give a new alternative/rock band a go, pretty much every day of the week and have found some incredible gems.

Edited to add, I'll try to buy physical release of any small band I've discovered even if it's only available on tape (twice last week, thankfully with download codes). Leave the Planet and Echo Girls be their names.

s7ryf3925pivug

It's common to charge a lot more for tickets than in the 80s or 90s. Young people are less likely to afford them.

Cee-Jay-Cee

guylikeme wrote: »

Fast forward 20 years. Who of today's era could headline Slane. It's frightening.

Coldplay.
The Killers.
Kodaline

Birneybau

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

guylikeme wrote: »

Fast forward 20 years. Who of today's era could headline Slane. It's frightening.

Coldplay.
The Killers.
Kodaline

Well exactly

colmufc

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Coldplay.
The Killers.
Kodaline

Kodaline
Are you kidding me ,not a chance

guylikeme

guylikeme wrote: »

Fast forward 20 years. Who of today's era could headline Slane. It's frightening.

Depends how far back you're willing to go to define "today's era". But if you're talking about artists that have emerged since the turn of the century then I'd say Arctic Monkeys and Arcade Fire could both headline Slane. And, like it or not, Coldplay would also be up there, as would Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

Depending on how he gets on with the "difficult second album" and thereafter, Hozier could well be a future headliner; the Irish connection obviously helps but he certainly has talent, and hopefully the potential to build on what he's done already and take himself to an even higher level.

engiweirdo

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

Coldplay.
The Killers.
Kodaline

Pffft. Ladyboys the lot of em. And not even the right way(New York Dolls). It's all so....safe and basic and middle class. No wonder the black lads pretty much took over with hip hop.

eviltwin

It's the genre more than anything. Pop doesn't have the mass appeal to fill a venue like Slane or Croke Park. And the fan base is young, as a parent not shelling out 100+ Euro to take my kid to see some rubbish.

dogbert27

Bodie Miniature Smile wrote: »

It's common to charge a lot more for tickets than in the 80s or 90s. Young people are less likely to afford them.

This. When I was 16 I could afford to pay for two tickets myself for Oasis in Pairc Ui Caoimh.

What 16 year old can pay over 100 euro a ticket for a gig today?

Today people can download 100s of songs in a day and listen to less than 10% compared to the early 90's listening to Dave Fanning waiting for your favorite band to come on the radio and hit the record button on the tape deck.

Tony Fenton always pxxxed me off big time with this as he insisted on being a jockey and talking over the intro music of EVERY song! :mad:

silverharp

back in the 80's a concert ticket was a little more than the price of a LP. croke park all day with something like U2 or Simple Minds was about £12...good times

DavidLyons_

silverharp wrote: »

back in the 80's a concert ticket was a little more than the price of a LP. croke park all day with something like U2 or Simple Minds was about £12...good times

Bought a ticket in the early 90s to see Nirvana in McGonagles for £7 or so. Sadly that gig got postponed and they ended up playing in the point a number of months later.

Ticket was just exchanged though so £7 to see Nirvana (with The Breeders & Teenage Fanclub as support) wasn’t too bad value for money.

engiweirdo

Even in 2005 a weekend ticket for Oxegen was €150. Not over the odds considering the line up. Probably the last incarnation of a rock festival in Ireland. Feckin wrecked it after with letting the likes of Eminem play there and various scuzzy dance acts. Dragged all the dregs of Ireland toward it. Twas always a goner when they went down that road.

riclad

Big rock bands hardly exist anymore,bands like the rolling stones, u2 have millions of fans, so they can sell out stadiums.
Who is the next u2 or coldplay.
Theres stars like beyonce or kanye west ,beiber ,taylor swift ,lady gaga
Theres no new rock band that can sell millions of albums .
Now the charts are based on streaming ,youtube views ,as well as cd sales ,
and digital downloads.
Older people have more money, they will buy expensive tickets to see
madonna or the rolling stones.
The era of the rock band seems to be over,
but people will buy tickets to see oasis or u2 as long as they wish to tour.
Theres plenty of solo stars who could headline slane, ed sheeran etc
it would be more accurate to say big acts from the 80.s
sell alot of tickets .

Bonzo Delaney

I 've been pondering this for a while too that the day of the big stadium band will be no more when the current crop of 50+yr olds pack it in be they 60s 70s 80s or 90s bands from the stones to pearl jam ozzy to gnr Aerosmith to u2 even the killers and stereophonics were out 20+yrs
There's hasn't been an influential rock band in 20yrs

Say Your Number

I prefer the small club gigs, because you can show up half an hour before the main act and be in a decent spot, for those big stadium gigs for you have to be there for hours to get a decent spot and if you're not all you can see are a few small specks on the stage and all the gobsh1tes around you are having a nice chat and they only decide to shut up when the band play their big hits, also club gigs are usually louder so there isn't much chat going on.

riclad

I think rock music is dying, young people listen to streaming music,
pop music and hip hop is more popular .
Someone can become a pop star simply by making a viral music video.
singers like katy perry or bieber don,t write their own songs.
Its like in gaming ,certain games genres do,nt exist any more like rts game,s.eg real time stategy games and games like guitar hero do not sell
anymore.

sameoldname

I think there's a whole number of things that have come together at about the same time.

Firstly is money. There's less money in the music industry and it's now far more going towards the larger artists then it ever was before. That means that where a band in the past could have made enough money from an alright selling first album to essentially stay in the business long enough to hone their craft, nowadays will generally just give up, find a job that pays and maybe just keep music as a hobby.

Compounding that is, even if you do manage to create a well received album, there's no money in selling music. You have to tour and sell merchandise. If you can't attract a crowd to a gig, your music is essentially worthless in this era. People like Enya and Kate Bush or anyone else who rarely toured won't be seen again I'm afraid. So that means if you're the type of person who can't write new songs on the road, you better hope you've made enough money from the touring because you're not going to have any income while you're writing and recording. And the record labels pay peanuts nowadays compared to what they used to if you're lucky enough to have a record deal.

I would also say the other thing that's killing music is that there's no new "sound". From the middle of the last centaury we went through so many new innovations in sound that it was comparatively easy to come up with something new and interesting. Electric guitar, distortion, synths, sampling, pure digital. All these things created era-defining sound to the point where it's very easy to tell music from the 50's, 60's, 70s, 80s, and 90's apart. In my opinion that slowed down in the late 90's, early 2000's and stopped completely by the end of the last decade. We're essentially listening to music that hasn't changed in a decade or more. (And I don't count dubstep …and neither should you!)

There are other issues of course but those to me are some of the main reasons in my opinion. And I'm not saying there aren't great bands nowadays but how many times has a band from the last 15 years made you say "Wow!" when listening to their stuff. Very few for me...

Of course, it could be because I'm in my 30's now...

rossie1977

riclad wrote: »

I think rock music is dying, young people listen to streaming music,
pop music and hip hop is more popular .
Someone can become a pop star simply by making a viral music video.
singers like katy perry or bieber don,t write their own songs.
Its like in gaming ,certain games genres do,nt exist any more like rts game,s.eg real time stategy games and games like guitar hero do not sell
anymore.

At this point its pretty much dead as far as stadium rock goes outside nostalgia acts from 60-90s.

To be fair Perry writes or co-writes all her own songs, quite a few pop songs that charted well for other acts she also wrote. Bieber I couldn't tell you but he could easily have been a fad but he has sustained popularity for a decade.

SEPT 23 1989

No parents have record collections lying around on a shelf waiting to be discovered

The last kids listening back were the 90's bands

Invisible music on phones now

It's like the North Atlantic drift

Once the circle is broken it's the ice age

Grandeeod

Interesting thread that's gonna be filled with all kinds of opinions and I'd be the last to judge. However I see a lot of bands from the 80s and I mean bands, playing gigs and selling out venues. Some are still stadium fillers in different parts of the world, while others sell out big to medium indoor venues in other parts of the world. I have a particular memory from the Electric Picnic in 2017. The closing act was Duran Duran and there was fooking warfare online when it was announced. So much anger and disgust and criticism. Anyway, they arrived, played and ultimately entertained the place to great reviews because they are a great live act with a back catalog that most will recognize. Like so many bands, they keep on playing live all across the world at festivals and their own tours.

Just look at the appetite for Feile Classic this year. Okay, more early 90s with bands that really started in the late 80s and never got the mainstream success they deserved. Music has gone to ****. I'm not surprised older bands are the big headliners at various events.

Discodog

I remember an interview with Eavis. He said that there was a serious lack of headliners. It's a major problem for big festivals.

Anesthetize

I wouldn't change anything about the current musical climate. Alternative music exists for the very reasons where people are disillusioned with mainstream music and complain about it.

If you want something pure or substantial from music you're rarely going to find it in a field or stadium with 50,000 people. You've a better chance of finding it in Whelan's.

Rothko

Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

I 've been pondering this for a while too that the day of the big stadium band will be no more when the current crop of 50+yr olds pack it in be they 60s 70s 80s or 90s bands from the stones to pearl jam ozzy to gnr Aerosmith to u2 even the killers and stereophonics were out 20+yrs
There's hasn't been an influential rock band in 20yrs

White Stripes and The Strokes have been very influential. Libertines too.

Ulysses Gaze

Rothko wrote: »

White Stripes and The Strokes have been very influential. Libertines too.

White Stripes were influential.

The Strokes were a retro one album wonder. The Libertines were pretty much the same.

Grandeeod

Anesthetize wrote: »

I wouldn't change anything about the current musical climate. Alternative music exists for the very reasons where people are disillusioned with mainstream music and complain about it.

If you want something pure or substantial from music you're rarely going to find it in a field or stadium with 50,000 people. You've a better chance of finding it in Whelan's.

With all due respect that is an opinion that has been held for donkeys years and is usually the opinion held by the more "edgy" types trying to be cooler than everyone,

1000s of people found music that was pure and substantial in a field or stadium many years ago, but not these days.

SEPT 23 1989

Rothko wrote: »

White Stripes and The Strokes have been very influential. Libertines too.

The were the the last sting of a dying wasp

Not great but better than nothing

But up against the big boys they were Freight Rover Cup

hadepsx

What about the Foo fighters??

engiweirdo

hadepsx wrote: »

What about the Foo fighters??

See my post about Oxigen '05. That was when they along with co-headliners Green Day were **** hot. Unfortunately both are still knocking out dross now when there is likely a better market for them in greatest hits tours.

Jofspring

In Ireland newer artists selling out big venues may be gone or very limited but around Europe, USA and South America there are plenty of bands/artists selling out big arenas, stadiums etc... Outside of the usual heads.

Rock may be dying in Ireland but definitely not around the world. There are countries that their charts are riddled with new rock bands from metal to punk and more alternative stuff. We don't even have a nationwide radio station dedicated to rock music in this country. It's not generally played on the airwaves here and lots of people aren't exposed to it on a regular basis.

Ireland is and will always be a very narrow minded country when it comes to music. There are bands selling out arenas in the UK and Europe regularly that struggle to fill small venues here. Yet a band can come into the charts like "Picture This" and off the back of one hit and maybe another known song sell out the 3 Arena. You see it happen here time and time again. Volbeat for example have been headlining top festivals around Europe for years now, have had chart hits in many countries and have had huge outdoor gigs themselves but in Ireland most people wouldn't have a bulls notion who they are.

In saying all that I'm delighted to get to see some of my favourite bands in the smaller venues. I love a good festival but seeing a band up close and personal and not from the back of the three arena or in a field somewhere is something to enjoy here.

grindle

sameoldname wrote: »

...how many times has a band from the last 15 years made you say "Wow!" when listening to their stuff. Very few for me...

Of course, it could be because I'm in my 30's now...

This is particularly depressing - the past 15 years have been phenomenal for music. Many many acts have made me go "Wow!" since 2003.