I'm no fan but they had some good songs. Not nearly as many as their fans would think though! I can't help thinking that a lot of their popularity comes from the time they emerged. There simply weren't enough good bands around, so perhaps their lesser songs got a bigger audience than they deserved. I would further suggest that if they had originated in the 70s, they would not have had half the fame they accumulated from being in the 90s. So not bad, but massively overrated for me. One of the particular things that always annoyed me was the publicity (well I remember it anyway) of when Noel Gallagher praised Slade's superb "How Does It Feel". As if this should be really important considering "how good" Oasis are. The only opinion that would count for me is what Noddy thinks of Oasis - but he would be too polite to say anything bad about them (even though I would suggest a lot of Oasis stuff is Slade influenced).
Like The Beatles. I can listen to small amounts quite happily...but it doesn't take very long for that to change into a desire to listen to something with a bit more swing and oomph. Somebody bought me one of their albums for my 40th birthday. I'd be shocked if I've listened to it more than 5 times. I'm not even sure if it's Definitely Maybe or What's The Story, so long is it since I listened to it. The ticket pricing rip off hasn't helped my view of them. Decrying touts and then scalping punters yourself deserves being called out as ****ing appalling.
Ticketmaster needs to die. It's utterly unnecessary now. You can buy tickets from every venue online.
"Dynamic pricing" certainly needs to be investigated (actually as a term it doesn't sound too bad, like "smart motorway") until you suffer from its implications. But it seems to be built into all sorts of selling models. The last time I went to a small boardgames convention a couple of years ago, in January, even the "pressure" (of maybe 100 people?) booking local hotel rooms in Stockport was enough to significantly increase the prices over the surrounding weekends.
I remember Coca Cola trying to introduce a vending machine that charged according to the temperature. It was dropped, certainly in the UK...although, I think it exists elsewhere. It's weird what we'll pay more for due to them being in high demand, but tripling the price of something, just because you can, is just exploitation. I'm lucky that my music doesn't have such problems, although I've very, very occasionally 'had' to pay money to a tout...and I really begrudge doing it, although, in effect, they're just second hand car dealers.
I'm at the time of life where I have seen almost all of my music " heroes " and a few I've seen in there later years or on the comebacks and it's never been the same to me , off hand it's hard to think of a band of solo artist that I would pay the big money to see on a comeback
The Damned reunion gigs a couplevof years ago were great. All members wanted to do it, even Cap, who had to switch back to being the bass player and button his Zippy mouthy. Universally well received and highly rated by those 'in the know'. A celebration. The occasional X-Ray Spex gigs were great, as have been Stray Cats ones. The Only Ones original line up shows were great, too. I didn't see the Pistols previous ones, as Lydon has become an insufferable prick, but I'm looking forward to the Frank Carter ones. I was given tickets to see Eagles at the Dome, about 15 years ago...and they were really good, I think. I was in a different postcode to the band, but it looked good on the big screen.
Currently, I'm lazing in the Tunisian sunshine...and very nice it is too. Last night we ventured to the next door, ugly sister site of our hotel (we're allowed full access to their site, they're not allowed in ours at all) to see the band they'd laid on as entertainment. First track was, without question, THE WORST version of Rivers of Babylon that I can imagine. I was all for leaving the mainly 70+, Gammon to their fate...when in faltering English the singer/guitarist announced a Santana montage. It was really good and lasted a glorious 20+ minutes and by its end, 75% of the audience had gone elsewhere. Having staked out their intentions, the band proceeded through Muse, REM, Green Day, The Smiths and lots of other goodies. By the end, there were 20 of us having a ball. A very good night!
Much the same happened to us in Bali this year, we went to see a jonny Cash tribute, the JC lead was ok and to give him credit he was a tribute not an impersonator, the rest of the band were incredible, they did a lot of his later tracks as well as the classics then the singer left the stage and the 16yr old lead guitarist and the 17 yr old Bass played Chuck Berry,Roy Orbison , Buddy Holley and out of left field did a storming version of I'm losing you in the Rod Stewart/Faces style , met them afterwards and they were really made up that we recognised the version The band appeared 2 nights later with a different singer and tore their way through Motown,RnB and soul classics the lead singer was only 17 and the girl who did the Supremes and Areatha covers was 18 ,real talent Years ago I went to see Steely Dan at Wembley arena, has to be said it was one of the greatest disappointments of my life , I saw Steely Dan In San Francisco in 1976 and they were brilliant but the Wembley gig ,the band were like a chicken in a basket act and the seats and view was total crap , never been back to that venue since If I want to see the Dan now I go to see a tribute act nearly Dan which are spot on and so well rehearsed also a local pub band and my daughters best friends play in an band called Stanley Dee , worth the price of a pint
I think we discussed the Dan @ Wembley disaster some time ago. The gig was in '98 or '99 I think They were truly dreadful and it was a huge disappointment to me as a big fan from Katy Lied days on. And yes, the seats, up at the back, up high, were awful too. We had to rotate 45° to the left to watch and I had a stiff neck for days after.
And to top it off I had a row with Bill Oddie for trying to push in the queue for the gents , he pulled himself to his full 5'5" and more or less gave me the " do you know who I M speech " tosser
I'm in the minority I know, but one of the reasons I don't go out of my way to see live music is that I always prefer to hear the version I am used to (and when recorded from vinyl, I even expect the cracks in the same place!) I did see a lot of bands in the late 70s early 80s but that's another story, and not much since. The greats who are still around have played those familiar songs umpteen times so it's not surprising they are fed up with doing the same old stuff the same old way, and will also want to play their new stuff (which generally I'll pass on). Hence I rarely go to gigs, and if I do I much prefer a tribute band who are much more likely to do the music I want the way I want it. Incidentally, the last live band I saw was Regenesis, and they were great.
Each to their own and 'Vive la difference!' The majority of music that I love is about the moment. I will go and watch bands live, who I wouldn't and don't listen to recordings of. I don't think it's weirder than half of the other stuff do... I got into gigging very young. I was 14, well over 6' and not scrawny, so could pass for old enough to use my mate's brother's driving licence. It's become a habit to go to see bands and mates. There are certain bands that I see certain people at. I don't see them anywhere else. Others, I see pretty much everywhere I go. As I'm very often the tallest bloke and Mrs B is always the tallest woman, we get recognised a lot and people come over for a chat, which is great. I'd be lost and lonely without it.
