Rock'n through the decades, night after night, doesn't that get old?

[Fusioninspace]

I have to admire all my old heros from my childhood still touring and stuff. But doesn't playing the same songs you wrote 25 years ago and play at least 200 times a year every since get sort of stale? Or is that just me???

I'm sure the first year or two is an incredible ride - but how many times can you play Back In Black and keep it convincing and not feel like you want to pull your hair out (what's left of it at least ).

This is not meant to slam them at all. It must just take a special person! It would drive me nuts personally.

 

[Sloan]

If you were born to rock, it's just what you do.
Putting everything you are and ever will be into rocking the hell out at a show never gets old. If it does, your doing it wrong.
Music is the greatest high I've ever had and it's the only thing in this world that makes my life worth living.

 

[jono77]

not many artists who don't have to play the same songs night after night. it's what fans expect - and require. I saw Stevie Wonder recently and he still killed lots of his old stuff.

 

[crazydoc]

I'm sure it beats five days a week at the factory.

 

[mixsit]

If you were born to rock, it's just what you do.
Putting everything you are and ever will be into rocking the hell out at a show never gets old. If it does, your doing it wrong..

Ah, ok. But then again you're saying this at ...23?

Music is the greatest high I've ever had and it's the only thing in this world that makes my life worth living

With you there with the music. How about we re-check on the 'business, life style/road, repetition factors, say.. 2030'ish.

In many cases as they say 'we do music because we have to. But later I have friends who while still loving it have to keep up the grind' because of few options. There's that too.

 

[Light]

I have to admire all my old heros from my childhood still touring and stuff. But doesn't playing the same songs you wrote 25 years ago and play at least 200 times a year every since get sort of stale? Or is that just me???

I'm sure the first year or two is an incredible ride - but how many times can you play Back In Black and keep it convincing and not feel like you want to pull your hair out (what's left of it at least ).

This is not meant to slam them at all. It must just take a special person! It would drive me nuts personally.

It's about professionalism. AC/DC are amazing live (and I don't even like their music). They come out and the just nail it. For them, that's their job and it's what they do. They approach their live shows the same way as any other top professional approaches their job. They also have one of the best road crews in the business, but that's a whole other thing. But in the end, this is how they pay their bills, and if they want to keep paying their bills they are going to keep their fans happy. Besides, having 10,000 people scream every time to play a riff would really have to give you a bit of a lift.

That being said, I was once at a Joe Jackson concert (who I DO like), and when someone kept yelling out for him to play "I'm the Man," he had one of the all time great comebacks, "I'll tell you what - if you don't ask me to be who I was 25 years ago, I won't ask you to be who you were 25 years ago." Of course, he then went on to play (a much altered version of) "Steppin' Out," and also played "Look Sharp," "Got the Time," and "Is She Really Going out with Him." It's not like he was an idiot, he was just done with that one song. At least for the time being - I'm pretty sure he's been playing it for the last few years again.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Dani Pace]

I'm a long way from being one of the "big boys" but from a player's perspective, I still get the same thrill playing some songs that I learned 30 years ago as I did when I first learned them. The really good songs seem to never grow old to the audiences or the performers.

 

[MatchBookNotes]

or you could be like lou reed and some other artists who never play the same song twice when live. He's constantly reworking his music live... that's probably why he didn't have major commercial success. You couldn't sell tickets to sheeple who wanted the same experience everyone else gets.

 

[RichJ]

In the past few months, I've seen shows by Springsteen, The Cure, and Rush - all bands that played songs that were at least 30 years old. All three shows were awesome (in many different ways!). They are all amazing artists and professionals who offer a quality product. In return, they make a good living from their work.
A band's setlist is never the same (usually!) and changes from night to night, and tour to tour, the crowd is never the same, the arenas and clubs change over the years.
I once read that Neil Peart discovered three months into their first tour in the early 70s that he didn't really like touring!! However, he's a passionate artist, a professional, and a guy with bills to pay!

Cheers,
-Rich

 

[Chili]

Jimmy Buffett once said on a live album, "As long as I 've got fans like Parrotheads, I'll never get tired of playing this song (Margaritaville)" You can imagine how rewarding it is to play that song 200x a year when he counts up the gate receipts.

I wish I had that same dilemma.

Cheers,

 

[ggunn]

Ray Wylie Hubbard still does "Redneck Mother". One time when I was running sound for him, he got to the "spelling" part of the song, and said "M is for the incredible mileage I have gotten out of this song..."

It's their job. Sometimes at your job you have to do something that you're bored with or that you'd rather not do, but if you're a pro you suck it up and do it without complaining.

 

[mikeh]

I'm sure there are songs that some artists would prefer not to keep playing.....but it's their job and they get paid very well to do it - and as someone indicated.....it beats the hell out of a 9-5 factory/office day job.

While I can't compare myself to any major artist, I have been gigging for over 40 years and while I've lost count, I'm sure there have been in the range of 4,000 plus gigs.

There are many songs I've played so many time in so many different bands that I would be very happy if I never played them or heard them again. However, if those songs appear on a set list - I play them with the same level of commitment and professionalism as songs I'm playing for the first time. Why? Because I'm paid to and because I take pride in my reputation as a professional and dependable musician.

I must assume if I maintain that attitude for $100 per gig, the big guns who get paid thousands of $$$$$$ per gig can manage to give 100% effort!

 

[Sloan]

Ah, ok. But then again you're saying this at ...23?

With you there with the music. How about we re-check on the 'business, life style/road, repetition factors, say.. 2030'ish.

I play in working bands with guys that are 40+ for a living. I don't make a lot, but I get by. I've been at it for 8 years and it's not easy, but I don't really have a desire to do anything else.

 

[mikeh]

I play in working bands with guys that are 40+ for a living. I don't make a lot, but I get by. I've been at it for 8 years and it's not easy, but I don't really have a desire to do anything else.

If you've been at it for 8 years full time and you are now 23 - you started when you were 15. If that's the case, perhaps you were indeed born to play music. However, it can be very easy to feel the fire at 23.........it will be interesting to see if you are still playing in 30-40 years. But if you've been on the road for 8 years - you have better fortitude than I did!

I was 15 when I went on the road (I basically stole one of my dad's drum kits and headed out with some guys who were 20-30). After 7 years I had burned out (I think it was the year backing up lounge singers in Vegas and Reno). I got off the road and focused on local gigs and session work (back then there were a lot of local house gigs 6-7 nights per week).

Maybe the guys who travel on planes or nice buses, who have catered food and tour managers, etc. and who play for thousands of people can keep the fire burning........but I'm finding that after 40 years, playing in crap bars for a handful of drunks......well, it ain't as much fun as it use to be.

 

[mykie_a]

THis reminds me of a post where someone mentioned "what separates a professional from a non professional is not pay, it's his ability to convince you that he is playing even if he doesn't care to be at the time"

 

[dogonjon]

It's the fans

Don't matter what songs you play as long as some one is listening and enjoying. The burn out is playing those dead bars with no one there. That kills you.

 

[Fusioninspace]

My point is that some of these guys (or girls) might have a play list of like 40 songs - and 10 are "must haves". I'm not talking about you working class musicians that basically do covers and some originals at clubs and bars.

As far as the quality of the show is concerned, I think it's sometimes more a matter of going through the moves. They know exactly what to do and when.

I agree a band like Rush that has an extensive playlist with varied material can keep it fresh because they're outstanding musicians and the chord progressions, rhythms, etc, are all over the charts.

But what about AC/DC? I think they have written some of the greatest anthems of all time - but musically very limited. As a musician, would you want to limit your career to just that one style of music over a 40 year time span? Yea, the pay is great, but you end up spending less time on the creative side of the music because it becomes a formula and that's what your fans/label expect.

What if AC/DC wanted to explore West African love songs? They'd get booed off the stage no matter how much they wanted to to that.

My thought is that if you're in a stinking bar playing pretty much what YOU want is probably more intellectually stimulating in the long run. The pay just sucks.

 

[jfrog]

My point is that some of these guys (or girls) might have a play list of like 40 songs - and 10 are "must haves". I'm not talking about you working class musicians that basically do covers and some originals at clubs and bars.

As far as the quality of the show is concerned, I think it's sometimes more a matter of going through the moves. They know exactly what to do and when.

I agree a band like Rush that has an extensive playlist with varied material can keep it fresh because they're outstanding musicians and the chord progressions, rhythms, etc, are all over the charts.

But what about AC/DC? I think they have written some of the greatest anthems of all time - but musically very limited. As a musician, would you want to limit your career to just that one style of music over a 40 year time span? Yea, the pay is great, but you end up spending less time on the creative side of the music because it becomes a formula and that's what your fans/label expect.

What if AC/DC wanted to explore West African love songs? They'd get booed off the stage no matter how much they wanted to to that.

My thought is that if you're in a stinking bar playing pretty much what YOU want is probably more intellectually stimulating in the long run. The pay just sucks.

Some good questions. It depends on the performer....what they're aiming for with their music. Someone like Jimmy Buffet appears to get a huge thrill out of playing "Margaritaville" at every concert. Other artists may want to grow musically but feel trapped by their success. I'm kinda thinking of the Beach Boys here...they seemed like they wanted to move away from the surf wound in the late 60's/early 70's but could. (remember the song "Sail On, Sailor", anyone? Neither does anyone else!) I think they finally realized that to continue on successfully, they'd have to play what the people wanted.

 

[K Road]

I think it depends to a large extent on your pesonal relationship to music. If you are primarily a song writer or a tune-smith, then sure, it will be a drag playing you own material from years back over and over again - indeed, kind of humiliating. On the other hand, if you are a showman with a proven track record and you are beyond your prime, then you will of necessity want to, and need to, live off what you created way back when - when the juices were flowing, so to speak. And also to a large extent, whether you are, or have created "product" from which you will in your "maturity" want to profit from, then you gotta keep rehashing the same old boring shit - its what the punters expect.

In the final analysis, it has less to do with artistic integrity and more to do with economics. Hey, we all gotta a pay the rent, right?

But personally, I would rather read some of the dead-threads round here, like:"How can I become a hot shot jazzer in one easy lesson with my three chord vocabulary?" than listen to a lot of the "Has Been" bands masterbating in glory of their adolecesent days. What? Come again!

K.

 

[Chili]

Want to know what a real drag is? When you put 10 or 12 of your own crappy tunes on a cd and then your 2 yr old "discovers" it. Now she's got to listen to it 8 times a day, , or else it's the tears. I think I've got some good songs, but most of them make me cringe.

Oh well, it's just a phase... I hope...

Peace,