Before I forget, we are doing another Birthday Promotion for Durandemonium 2013! Â We seem to have to have a few band member birthdays coming up during the month of June. Â So, from June 8th through June 20, you can buy your registration for $135, which will save you $20! Â We have a great group of people coming and we hope you can be with us for some Duran Duran fun and even a few surprises that weekend! Â For more information, please see the Durandemonium 2013 website!
I ran across an article today, thanks to my friend Lisa. Â It is on the top ten ways a rockstar can ruin a concert experience. You can read the article here.
There are things on the list like showing up ridiculously late, playing medleys or playing perverse arrangements of their songs…things that yes, I would agree have at least the potential to ruin the whole experience.
However, I think the list missed something.  Remembering the lyrics to ones songs is usually kind of important.  I’m not talking about flub-ups.  That happens to everyone once in a while and I am very forgiving, because quite honestly – I like the idea that yes, these people are human. I have laughed right along with Simon when he’s made a mistake and he realizes that we, the audience, are singing the correct words.  He’ll smile, he’ll try to get back on point and we move on. It happens. That said, there was one tour not that long ago where it seemed like this was happening a lot, and I started to wonder if it was because his mind wanders when he’s up there on stage. (confession…I think mine would!!) I even started wondering if he was just bored with us! I know people openly started discussing whether or not he needed a teleprompter, and there was a lot of good (and not-so-good) natured teasing that happened about that. Interestingly enough, this last tour – I saw almost NONE of that.  Simon knew the damn words, and even if he had mistakes, most of the time they were small.  There will be no teleprompter just yet, dammit.  To be fair, Simon is by far not the only person on the planet to forget the words or lose his spot in the song.  I know plenty of artists that really DO use a teleprompter, and some seem to have trouble even keeping up with that.  I’ve been to more than one Psychedelic Furs concert, and Richard Butler never fails to mutilate at least one of his hits to pieces…and sometimes he has even fallen flat on his back on stage from tripping over things.  It’s never good when that is the most entertaining thing to come out of a show.
Then there are the things I totally agree with.
For example, I agree that never varying the set list is a problem. I know you all are very shocked by that statement from me, and you should probably sit down before you faint. Â The article says it best, “Some artists have long catalogs of great songs, but their concerts tend to fall back on the same 15 songs they’ve been dragging out for decades. It’s like eating 10 chocolate bars for dinner; it’s not satisfying. Sure, the crowd wants to hear hits and you want to do anything you can to hold their attention, but you also need to challenge them a bit” Of course the argument then becomes how many hits to how many new/unheard/obscure songs…how can that be balanced best. Here is a hint: we have ALL heard certain songs quite enough. I don’t believe that anyone actually still comes to a Duran Duran concert SOLELY to hear Rio or Hungry Like the Wolf, and if they do, then perhaps they should buy tickets to a couple of different nights, that way you can play one of them one night, and the other the next. This way you have room to play a few more more unusual songs each night in your set and still have room to play SOME hits. Then the next night you play OTHER hits…and you might sell more tickets in the process than if it was the same show every single night – which is what I (mostly) found in the last few tours. Is that being unfair of me, to suggest that they split up the hits between two or several shows, basically saying that if you are insistent to hear every hit – that you should be prepared to pay? Probably. Ok, definitely. Especially when I bring up the next example…
Soaking the fans for every penny. To be completely honest, I think this is a problem industry-wide right now. Gigs are an absolute fortune to attend unless you’re lucky enough to be a big fan of someone who maybe plays gigs at venues like The Bedford with their blues band…who was ALSO willing to travel to do some shows for their poor, deprived fans in other parts of the world, like good old Southern California. Because while the gig is cheap, the flight to the UK from Los Angeles or anywhere else in the world is not. (Did you catch what I just did there???) Naturally, from the band’s point of view…if you’ve got the budget to have your band travel for gigs, it’s likely that you’re charging more than £20 or £30 a ticket! On the other hand, the article makes it pretty clear that if your band is charging $300 a show, those seats should probably be up on stage…which in the case of Duran Duran, could be dangerous for them. Those barricades are there for a reason. I’ve seen more than one fan decide that their time with Simon was in the middle of a set and they just went for it, only to have Mr. Dave Casillas kindly pick them up over his shoulder and head offstage. Good times. I myself have paid over $300 for a show, and I know I’m not the only fan out there to do so by a long shot, only to get the seat along with some hit or miss special VIP merchandise. No meet and greet, no stage side seating. These days, it is slightly more manageable price-wise, but I know plenty of fans who simply cannot afford those prices. Touring is incredibly important to a band’s bottom line these days, I think we all understand that. I just agree that there needs to be a better balance, and I’m not at all sure how that can be achieved. I don’t like the idea that the size of ones wallet or bank account should dictate fandom, but then I also believe in rainbows, unicorns and fairy tales, too. There are no easy answers to be found here.
Until then, I will just wait for my windfall so that I can fly to the UK and see a gig at The Bedford or Downstairs at Patrick’s Bar in between the years that DD tours…and if you’re still missing my sneaky point…you need to check out the brand new website for Blue To Brown. Like that plug, Dom Brown??
-R
I do love the Blue to Brown website, really cool creature!
I love Dom's guitar style and also his kindness.
I admire him for his wise approach to music and to the band's music; I admire his self control.
Interesting that one of the annoyances mentioned in the linked article was “Play too much from the new album” I think it's fair to say that most of us Duranies (especially those who aspire to attend multiple shows) would prefer to hear lots of new stuff. How sad and jaded for the author of the article to note that it will, “…get annoying when you pay to see an artist and the vast majority of the show is new stuff, especially when that material is a pale imitation of the old stuff.” And how sad for bands to know that some people don't want them to showcase or highlight their new material just because they are no longer at the peak of their popularity.
Casual fans who just know the older hits would perhaps agree with the aforementioned statement. But it brings up the same old question of who the band should cater to when developing a set list ~ the majority of the crowd who just goes to one show and is most familiar with their older music? Or the smaller percentage who travel to many shows and are a little more invested in their fandom than most? Those of us who love and appreciate not only the hits but the more obscure and even current songs.
For what it's worth, I think Duran does a great job of combining new and old in their set list. However it would be great if they mixed it up a little. Even if they had two different set lists per tour… as much as I love the hits and enjoy them every time the band plays them (even HLTW! lol) I don't really think they should be expected to include the same, what 6 or 7 core songs in *every* show. I'm thinking Rio, Girls, HLTW, Ordinary World, Come Undone, Careless Memories…I know they switch up others (like Reflex, Planet Earth, etc) but I am thinking I have heard the same 6 or so songs at *every* show. And I travel quite a bit to see them, so my DD concert going experience is pretty varied, location wise.
Soaking the fans for every penny… has anyone noticed Rolling Stones ticket prices? My mom is a big fan, I thought of purchasing tickets for her but…cheapest seats I could find were roughly $200 for nosebleed seats. Not even floor seats. Needless to say, I won't be taking her to a show :/
If you noticed – I didn't touch that comment about playing too much from the new album. I suppose that yes, it could depend upon the strength of that “new album”, but even so – I like hearing the new stuff. It's ALWAYS a little different live, and most of the time – it's better that way.
I think that was my general point about the setlist – the band REALLY needs to mix it up more than they do. They seem to have a general framework that they go with, and then their idea of “mixing up” the middle songs was adding or subtracting a couple songs. Not really enough, IMO…and I agree, they shouldn't be expected to play the same seven songs EVERY SINGLE SHOW. They shouldn't, and they don't. They can choose to leave more out and add others in for spice and variety. I hope they get more brazen about that in future tours, but we will see. (I think I've traveled quite a bit as well at this point, and I agree with you wholeheartedly!)
I did hear all about Rolling Stones prices. Duran Duran ticket prices, IMO…are not horrible, at least not these days. I think they're reasonable for the most part. Sure, VIP can get expensive, but for those who want up front…it's the only way to guarantee those seats, and they are priced accordingly. On the other hand, if one wants to see them and doesn't care where they sit, it's not as though there aren't reasonably priced seats available MOST of the time. Some venues are just really expensive, but most of the time, I think they're fair. I'm thankful that I'm not a huge fan of bands like the Rolling Stones, and once I paid over $200 just to get the very back row on the floor of MGM Garden Arena to see Paul McCartney. I thought the seats were a fortune to be so far back – and yet I couldn't touch the front section prices. Too too high for me at the time.
-R
Yeah I noticed you didn't comment on playing too much from the new album. While AYNIN is pretty much universally loved… didn't you guys just recently have a RCM discussion? Best to leave that topic behind for awhile, lol
Agreed, DD concert prices are fair. As you stated, some venues are simply expensive to play at. I really respect the fact that DD seems to charge based on the venue, and that they play a variety of venues. At least they mix things up in this respect, if not the set list 😉
Would love to see Paul McCartney but yes, he is also quite expensive.
I recently purchased a box set of Pearl Jam bootleg shows from their official website. (Duran – maybe you should try this avenue…I would bet dollars to donuts the fans would purchase the CDs/MP3s of the shows they attended) I tore through the box of 31 shows and not once could I predict what song the band would play next as I listened to the CDs. Pearl Jam has a 22 year old catalogue to pull from AND they throw in an occasional cover song OR a B-side song. Duran's catalogue is larger & older by at least 10 years so I don't see why they can't mix it up and keep it interesting. What about ONE show where the fans choose the setlist? How about a show where they wing it (i.e. no set list) and feed off the audience's energy to decide what to play next? Now THAT would be a show I would travel a long distance to go see!
Lisa
You know how I feel about the rest of it, but I will agree – I think that if Duran took the time to sell CDs or MP3s they would absolutely make money on that deal. I *go* to the shows and I would buy them! -R
We did have an RCM discussion. We've had many, actually. 🙂 It's been nearly seven years since that was released, I believe -and people still feel fairly violently about it, regardless of which side of that particular issue they tend to fall.
I will say this, even when they were touring RCM, I felt strongly that they needed to play the album – I also felt that if they were gonna play it – they needed to be able to sell us on the fact that they loved what they'd created. IMO, that's half the battle. I don't know if they really did that. I know that some of the music was amazing live, some of it was just much better live, and still others simply couldn't be helped. Even so, I'm glad I heard several of the songs live because it just adds another dimension to the music that you can't get when you're passively listening.
-R