Remember rock concerts?

I think hipster'dom contributed to the drop in rock. It stopped being accessible & fun, became a homework assignment. Where-as pop, hip hop & others dont have as much barrier.

 

Oh I'm sorry, did your mascara get in your eyes?

 

It was bad****ingass. The Cult was great, despite what certain fans had to say.

Here's the setlist, I'm having flashbacks now: https://www.metallica.com/events/event-9681.html

eta: I'd kill for a good copy of that show

 

I always liked this song

 

Saw The Cult at Houston Open Air a few years back.

 

That was the one when James and Lars did dueling drumkits, right?

Did you see, or remember, an Iron Maiden show at the Summit, with Alice Cooper and Testament?

 

I watched a (free) Virtual Reality broadcast of a Post Malone concert. He walked up and down a stage, rap-singing to recorded music. His vocals were auto- tuned and filled with effects. Between songs he just screamed out profanities.

The crowd went wild.
...(after all, they paid a lot of money for that show).

 

I just left the Aerosmith concert. Can’t believe how those geriatrics still got it. I’ll be long gone when I’m that age.

 

Idk what you guys are talking about but EDM and hip-hop shows have way more potential to be lamer than rock shows. The worst is probably country though- the new thing for white girls is to "love country music".

I've never been to a metal show, but the punk scene is still pretty strong at least on the east coast

 

I memby.

I don’t know where you’ve been but white women have loved country-pop since it’s inception the 1990s (it’s the only sub genre I can’t stand). There’s real country then there’s this abortion.

I think the communication enabled by the internet had given birth to some amazing music. Artists can find like-minded peers and collaborate. Streaming music has shifted listening habits away from terrestrial radio. This means there is more to go around and people have more choice, so there are fewer ‘mega bands’.

Big data means that pop companies and churn out the most ‘pleasing’ sound to the masses, and theses companies work with or own ‘big’ media so they will constantly pump out this watered down sound.

The average American has a large tv with decent sound as well as a good headset. There’s less need to leave the house for -any- entertainment. That means concerts are less of a talking point in public gathering points like school or work.

Juxtapose all of this with a relatively safe and calm American reality since the fall of the Soviet Union and there’s less raw anger coming from current generations. The big concerts we saw in the past were from bands influenced by the cultural events surrounding the Vietnam and Cold Wars.

Mix all of this together and you see less ‘rock’ concerts. It’s just the evolution of music.

I will say that I’ve watched some big EDM concert clips on YouTube and they looked amazing. My wife also took my oldest son to the 21 Pilots show last year and she said it was amazing. She went to some real rock concerts in the past so she has some background there.

 

They did it was actually kind of a disappointment IMO -- The Cult as an opening band doesn't really work. The set was too short and 95% of the crowd was there for Metallica only -- their show was great btw.

 

I went to dozens and dozens of concerts back in the mid-late '60's, and during the 1970's. Heck, I've mentioned it around here enough times to bore everyone to tears. The vast majority were in Houston, but not all, several were in Austin, a couple in SA, and a couple in Dallas. No service fees, you bought the tickets at a local record store or perhaps Foley's. If I found out about the concert late, I went with my date/friends to the box office of the venue, which worked most of the time.

Again, repeating myself, but tickets were cheap, not only at venues like the Music Hall (my favorite place for a concert) or the Coliseum, which had awful acoustics, unless you were close to the stage. So I always made my way to the front if I didn't have tickets for that arena. It wasn't that difficult. What was difficult was keeping a grip on the chick I was with, who was usually muttering, "can we really do this?" Those two venues had tickets ranging from $3/3.50 to $5, and later $6 dollars. You could be on a tight budget and afford to go to concerts and clubs (and buy a lot of LP's).

At clubs like The Catacombs or Love Street, it was cheaper. Even Liberty Hall that came around a little later and a great place, as were the other 2, the tickets were cheap. Bruce Springsteen played Liberty Hall in early March of 1974 for 4 nights, his first concerts in Houston and each over 2 hours. Tickets were $3 in advance, $3.50 at the door. The Velvet Underground at the same venue played for 2 nights in late August of 1972, two shows a night, with tickets $2.50 in advance, $3.50 at the door.

I'm telling you, it was heaven for a lover of rock in it's various permutations, blues (incredible people, legends, played Houston and Austin back then), even jazz. You might see groups 2nd or 3rd billed that later became famous, or else someone playing with them that did. Most of those venues didn't serve alcohol, but most who were there were stoned on one thing or another anyway. I certainly didn't miss it, and it certainly wasn't necessary anyway. You went for the music.

Concerts got a bit more expensive in the late '70's, but the clubs were still cheap. I moved to Austin in June of 1980, so I'm not as familiar with what happened with the scene in Houston after that. I moved to with my significant other, and in conversations after I met her in Houston, we figured out that we'd been at many of the same concerts during the '70's, except with someone else, obviously. She was too young to have experienced the 1960's.

Great thread, @TheFreak. Sorry for repeating much of what I've said here before. ;-)

 

The late 1960's and 1970's were the golden era of pure rock, IMO (other than the meandering solos and riffs which I guess were great if you were under the influence). I was small child back then so I wasn't able to enjoy it. You're a lucky guy.

 

for me, it never got more hardcore punk than when me and my friend slam danced to morrissey singing everyday is like sunday at astroworld in 1991.

 

That era was hardcore drugs. Dangerous lifestyle that my uncle was hooked on since he was a teenager.

 

The only reason for Country Music is to slow dance at someone else's wedding to George Strait and totally score. There is absolutely no reason to see it live. The exception to this rule is Garth Brooks. He's old and fat, but his shows rock your socks off. Seriously. I'm not even a big country music or Garth Brooks fan.

 

Still plenty of bands putting on great shows.

anyone who hasn’t seen Muse live, should.


Indy acts are fun as hell live too.