Bringing back old pop acts on tour: A failed experiment?

veryangryman · 19-05-2019 01:00PM #1

Noticing a lack of sellout for your Westlifes and your Spice Girls reunion gigs of this world. Which does at least give me hope for humanity. That said it is Croker so they likely wont make a loss

I know that with technology, streaming etc that their royalties have finally ran out and they need to work again (heaven forbid).

Anyway... do you think that the expirement will continue. Id imagine that a "miracle" 1D reunion tour will be the next.

Thrashssacre · 19-05-2019 01:01PM

No.

biko · 19-05-2019 01:02PM

Meh, nice to see the old bands play again I suppose.
I don't care if they are sold out. If I want to go I go..

lillycakes2 · 19-05-2019 01:38PM

I loved the spice girls when I was a kid, but sure ive zero interest in them now, I wouldn't dream of going to it !!!

Harry Palmr · 19-05-2019 01:41PM

It's just a case of being a bit too ambitious in the case Spice Girls and Croker. If they'd sold out the O2 for 4 nights everyone would say what a success it was but they want to be in and out in 24 hours.

tricky D · 19-05-2019 02:02PM

They're not proper old, these are: https://www.songkick.com/festivals/184356-forever-young/id/36801659-forever-young-2019

dxhound2005 · 19-05-2019 02:21PM

tricky D wrote: »

They're not proper old, these are: https://www.songkick.com/festivals/184356-forever-young/id/36801659-forever-young-2019

Kim Wilde's father Marty is still touring. That's proper old.

bnt · 19-05-2019 02:40PM

It depends on the band - whether they were just pop stars or genuine musical innovators. Look at what happened to OMD: big in the '80s, declined and broke up in the '90s ... reformed in 2006 after request from a TV channel, and have hardly stopped working since, with three albums of new music and a lot of sold-out gigs. A new generation of electronic musicians looked back and found bands like OMD, Depeche Mode and the Human League were way ahead of their time.

IAMAMORON · 19-05-2019 02:43PM

It is not an experiment. They cannot make any money otherwise.

Jimbob1977 · 19-05-2019 02:52PM

Music has changed dramatically in the past 15-20 years.

Stadium Rock (U2, REM, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Guns n'Roses, etc) has largely been replaced by new acts with more intimate gigs in smaller venues.

There is still a huge appetite for older acts like Fleetwood Mac and Simon & Garfunkel. And feelgood music like Take That, Spice Girls, Boyzone, Backstreet Boys.

Garth Brooks was on hiatus for 15 years... he sold over quarter of a million tickets for his (botched) Irish tour.

wylo · 19-05-2019 02:54PM

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

Garth Brooks was on hiatus for 15 years... he sold over quarter of a million tickets for his (botched) Irish tour.

Thanks for the reminder, a dark period of our history I was hoping would never re-emerge.

suicide_circus · 19-05-2019 03:51PM

very hard to make money from music nowadays with the youchews and spotterfly. so very few acts can stay in the business long enough to build up a back catalogue substantial enough to play a 2 hour set in a sold out venue with several thousand people. but the demand for these gig "experiences" is higher than ever.

also modern music is definitively worse than back in the day

is_that_so · 19-05-2019 04:00PM

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

Music has changed dramatically in the past 15-20 years.

Stadium Rock (U2, REM, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi, Guns n'Roses, etc) has largely been replaced by new acts with more intimate gigs in smaller venues.

There is still a huge appetite for older acts like Fleetwood Mac and Simon & Garfunkel. And feelgood music like Take That, Spice Girls, Boyzone, Backstreet Boys.

Garth Brooks was on hiatus for 15 years... he sold over quarter of a million tickets for his (botched) Irish tour.

There are a whole lot of 70s & 80s bands making a very healthy living out of nostalgia tours in the US & elsewhere, despite barely having one original member living. They are not all going for the intimate and there are plenty of 10-20K venues they can fill pretty well. REM done and dusted BTW.

DareGod · 19-05-2019 04:05PM

veryangryman wrote: »

Noticing a lack of sellout for your Westlifes and your Spice Girls reunion gigs of this world. Which does at least give me hope for humanity. That said it is Croker so they likely wont make a loss

I know that with technology, streaming etc that their royalties have finally ran out and they need to work again (heaven forbid).

Anyway... do you think that the expirement will continue. Id imagine that a "miracle" 1D reunion tour will be the next.

Pretty cynical view. Life can be tough for people. These concerts are a 2-hour mindless escape for them. Why would you want that taken away from people?

It's not a failed experiment. Bands have been "coming back" since forever and will most likely continue to.

JohnnyFlash · 19-05-2019 04:06PM

Went to see guns n’roses in Slane in 2017. Mighty gig.

Bobblehats · 19-05-2019 04:12PM

DareGod wrote: »

It's not a failed experiment. Bands have been "coming back" since forever and will most likely continue to.

Plumbthedepths · 19-05-2019 04:14PM

It's funny describing Westlife and the Spice Girls as bands.

Capt'n Midnight · 19-05-2019 04:18PM

What's most surprising is how many acts from this century are in the top 10. A few years ago it would have been current chart toppers and mostly stuff that was big by the end of the 1980's.

Top 25 tours of 2018

1. Ed Sheeran
2. Taylor Swift
3. Beyoncé and Jay-Z
4. Bruno Mars
5. Pink
6. Justin Timberlake
7. U2
8. The Rolling Stones
9. Kenny Chesney
10. Journey & Def Leppard
11. Eagles
12. Drake
13. Depeche Mode
14. Foo Fighters
15. Celine Dion
16. Billy Joel
17. Luke Bryan
18. Luis Miguel
19. Harry Styles
20. Dead & Company
21. Andre Rieu
22. Elton John
23. Shania Twain
24. Trans-Siberian Orchestra
25. Jay-Z

Bands that were big in the late 70's to late 80's are still big. PDF of top 100 last year

See the second page here to see some more bands like A-Ha and Santana, and even Riverdance on the mid year list still pulling in millions at the box office.

veryangryman · 20-05-2019 12:02AM

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

It's funny describing Westlife and the Spice Girls as bands.

I did say acts in the thread title

Bringing back old pop acts on tour: A failed experiment?

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