3 shows in Chicago? yowzers...... I didnt think BJ would be in huge demand these days. 1986 -1990 was a different story
They are from an era when arena rock was at the top of the charts and radio gave us hits. People who grew up during that time still went to see arena shows on a regular basis. They still do and their kids go too because that was the era of the mega hit, which doesn't exist any longer in today's fragmented music industry. Retro acts ALWAYS do well on tour. Billy Joel and Neil Young are both in the top 10. The Moody Blues still plays 10,000 seat venues (they are #40 on the list). Springsteen is #1. If the Stones or McCartney toured this year, they'd be in the top 5. Out of the top 50, only a handful are what you could deem "modern" acts and even many of those are niche artists playing to a very specific demographic (Tool, R. Kelly, etc.). A bunch of the artists don't even have records out. The bands that get the buzz on the internet and at festival shows like Bonaroo and ACL play to VERY few people and sell VERY few records. I always find that to be rather ironic considering how important music blogs and sites like Pitchfork make them out to be. Obviously, popularity should not be the only measure of success, but it definitely needs to be part of the equation if you want to argue that any band is important or influential.
Jeff - what does that tell you? Since I moved on to NY, I've been turned on to some good rock blogs such as brooklynvegan.com com that cream themselves over bands such as of Montreal but then ignore the fact that teh bands they push get outsold as far as concert attendance at similar venues- even up here - by the likes of old bastards like Iggy Pop. Either they espouse the belief that the indie bands music is of such superior quality that the masses just can't handle it, or they are delusional in pushing them in some effort to be edgy. I don't know...
Could it be that the younger people who would support newer music are spending their money on other things like video games?
Or that even the younger folk realize that we haven't had a "great" rock band or even just a decent, universally popular one come along in a while?
