Bands Reforming. Good Or Bad Idea?

squonk

Obviously this is prompted by the Oasis news this week but it got me thinking in general about bands reforming and gigging again. While I have a feeling that the reformed Oasis might end up being a good Oasis tribute band (the brothers have moved on themselves musically but maybe it’ll be great in its own way.

One that was great IMHO was Planxty reforming in 2004 for a tour. I’m too young to remember them first time round but they were excellent I thought. Of course people who saw them early on might disagree. So, opening the floor, is it always a good idea to reform and tour? What do you think?

Ash.J.Williams

As long as the band members are still there , nothing worse than a 70 year old bass player surrounded by young session musicians touring as a classic band

xxyyzz

It seems to be a trend at the moment, selling nostalgia. This partly because there are no more new bands capable of filling stadiums IMHO. People seem to only be interested in listening to bland solo artists.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122557312#Comment_122557312

Thats been happening over even the last 20 years IMHO. The only true long-standing traditional ‘rock’ act capable of actually being called a headliner is Coldplay and they’re as much a poster boy of everything wrong more than anything else. I think music has diversified. Back in the 80s you were queueing for tickets for Madonna/Michael Jackson OR AC/DC, Bon Jovi/Def Leppard. People fell into a limited number of camps for the big gigs. Now it seems harder to find a huge headline artist outside of Coldplay/Taylor Swift/Beyoncé.

xxyyzz

I wouldn't say it has particularly diversified to be honest. Turn on today fm any day and it sounds like they are constantly playing the same songs all day long, nothing but shouty singer songwriter Dermot Kennedy clones. I would say there is a huge amount of great music out there that flies under the radar but nobody is listening to albums anymore so it is very hard for a band to make a go of it financially unless you are constantly gigging, there is nothing to be made from streaming. I grew up in the 90's and I guess it was a period where popular music tastes and the alternative indie scene converged. It was a great decade for music IMHO. It would be very hard to see how a band like radiohead could be a success if they formed lately.

ednwireland

i did see roger waters in 2019 which was basically a best of pink floyd, it was a great show though.

I did get home and dutch guy i knew turns round and says nothing like pompeii in 72 😮

Terrontress

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058366777/bands-reforming-good-or-bad-idea

I saw Oasis 20 years ago and they were already a tribute act to themselves then. Everyone just wanted to sing along to Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory in the company of Liam and Noel.

I've really enjoyed a lot of gigs recently where the band has played their most popular album from beginning to end. Especially bands from the late 90s who had a decent album, split, and have then reformed to play it.

Even Paul McCartney seemed to release a new album every 18 months from 2000 to 2015, but spends his tours playing Beatles and Wings songs. He also plays the Hofner bass, to evoke the Beatles days, whereas when he was in Wings and his early post-Wings career he always played a Rickenbacker.

People don't want to listen to music any more, just sing karaoke with 79,999 other people.

squonk

Yeah the problem with Oasis is their stuff fell off a cliff after the first 2 and to a lesser extent 3rd album. I think in that kind of case you turn into a self tribute act and their first two albums were so all conquering which spurs that on. I think where a band is fairly consistent, a reform isn’t too bad. Nobody still wants to hear the new stuff but there’s a big week there to draw from in terms of a bunch of strong albums. Macca’s issue is similar to oasis except his output didn’t fan of a cliff, just his early stuff reached higher highs than most.

More artists should do as I’m anniversary gigs. I saw Peter Gabriel doing So in 2014 I think it was. Absolutely brilliant.

The Golden Miller

People want real bands at summer festivals. And as there's no original bands writing their own music in the mainstream generally, there's a market for bands to reform who were once successful.

Declan A Walsh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122557263#Comment_122557263

I would tend to agree with that statement. If you have someone trading on the band name, but the rest are all session players, it is not a good idea. In fact, it would be better if they gave it a different name, and maybe as a compromise "<X-New Name> featuring <Former member's name> from <Old Band Name>".

The above aside, is it a good or bad idea? I think the answer is: it all depends.

If the reformed band has something new to add to the music world: yes.

If it was only a brief breakup: that's fine.

If they are trading on past glory and they have disimproved: no thanks.

I don't think the line up has to necessarily be the exact same as previously, but they would need to be a band in the proper sense. That is different from a situation where it always was effectively one person hiding behind the band name, which is fine, e.g. Matt Johnson - The The, because it's not really a band anyway!

Anesthetize

it depends on their reasons for reforming. Reforming just to play gigs and cash-in isn't enough. The best reformations are when they release good new music as well. Examples:

Swans - inactive from 1997-2010, and then went on to release a string of great albums including The Seer, To Be Kind, and The Glowing Man.

Slowdive - inactive from 1995-2013, and went on to release their self-titled album and Everything Is Alive.

Celtic Frost - inactive from 1993-2001, and went on to release Monotheist, their best album.

Flinty997

They are musicians.

Playing music is what they do. I wouldn't be a snob about the platform they do it on. Be it a stadium or local pub. Or begrudge them making money.

mosstin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122567533#Comment_122567533

It's very much the exception to the rule when reformed bands release good new music. Wouldn't have thought of Swans myself - two of the albums mentioned were definitely excellent - but lately there's been a plethora of bands reforming, a lot of it due to the interest in retro festivals like Shiiine On etc. People go there, have a great weekend, the gigs are rammed and suddenly - mistakenly - bands think there's a market for their new material.

Strumms

it depends, as previously stated if it’s say 1 or 2 members of the original band plus 4 session musicians… nahhh

The Lemonheads, by my count there have been 25 band members over the years. Basically it’s an Evan Dando solo album / tour with session heads but under the name… Lemonheads.

A brilliant guitarist Chris Brokaw plays in The ‘Lemonheads’ as well as Evan’s ‘solo’ band.

Every time I’ve seen the modern era Lemonheads I’m aware I’m really seeing an Evan Dando show.

TheIrishGrover

It depends.... I know that sounds like a cop out answer but, if the love and ability is still there, then yeah. If not then it is just depressing.

I always go to Legends set when at Glastonbury. Some are great. Lionel Richie was fun, great and still had the ability to entertain. Cat Stevens too and Rick Astley (although not at the legends set. Was still great fun and also at Salty Dog at EP). But then you have the likes of Diana Ross who was just poor. I'm not going to mention Shania Twain or Cindi Lauper who were obviously having technical issues (you could see it there).

I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Zeppelin concert years ago. But that was a one off that they worked on for 6 months and it was awesome. Would I like to see them do a 60 date, 2 year stadium tour? No.

Pearl Jam played a great set here in Dublin (though the crowd were shït and way too dull) but I also loved Vedder's acoustic sets in the point (especially the one in 2017. The second last one). So I love people doing different versions of their own stuff.

If you are just doing it for a pay check then nah (even though I have ticket to oasis and it is the EPITOME of a pay check show)

Edit: Fixed typos