Dave had three strokes in 2004; the tour last summer was the first time he’s been able to play properly in public in years.
Ray still puts on a good show as far as I know; I’ll be seeing him next week in London. Dave’s playing a big London gig in April that was rapidly selling out even before tickets went on sale to the general public. (And being a bit of a shambles is part of his charm – the first time I heard one of his lead vocals off a Kinks’ record, I thought the belt on my turntable was acting up again).
Technically not Tull, as the band appears to be defunct, at least for the time being. For the last two or three years Ian has been touring and recording as a solo act only, although usually billed as “Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson” or “Ian Anderson Plays the Music of Jethro Tull.” As for his voice, last time around Ian had a “shadow” vocalist onstage taking some of the load off while Ian took up the slack by playing more flute, but the parts he actually sang were still pretty painful to hear. Still, as you say, it’s an amazing show (and Ian’s “deputy” works really well from a theatrical point of view). I’ve already reserved my tickets for the Oakland show in September.
Groups that can still sell-out 30-40 years after their hey day…that’s a pretty incredible achievement. And from a business perspective, it’s genius. As the band aged, so did their fans. While we were all once young and dirt poor (band and fans alike), now we’re older and (one hopes) richer.
So these Legacy tours are a win-win! Fans get to listen to some great music that’s stood the test of time, and the band gets to enjoy the rush of performing live, all while pocketing some serious cash for a change. Nostalgia is a beautiful (and lucrative) thing.
Lisa, who’s going to see The Eagles on Monday night.
I was lucky to see Ronnie James Dio in concert shortly before he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Even at 65, his amazing voice hadn’t changed one bit. (And he performed “Stargazer” – woot!) Also at the show were Motorhead (still rockin’, even now) and Iron Maiden (who were spring chickens by comparison!)
However, a few years back I passed on a concert featuring Yes (w/o Jon Anderson or Rick Wakeman), REO Speedwagon (no Gary Richrath) and Styx (don’t EVEN get me started…) If a classic rock band can’t achieve a quorum of original members, it ain’t worth the price of admission, IMNSHO.
I’ve seen Styx with the classic lineup and twice with Gowan, Burtnick, and Sutcherman. The two later shows were far better then the 80s show. Not even close.
I’ve also seen REO without Gary. Also a great show.
But the thing is, they’ve both kept at it even without hit records, and they’ve not mistreated their voices.
This thread wasn’t inspired by the recent passing of Pete Seeger at age 94, was it?
OP, you seem to be thinking of the really big acts that are well past their prime, but you don’t actually say so. There are plenty of singers and bands who have been putting out good solid albums and/or putting on good solid concerts for well over thirty years now, either steadily or off-and-on, under the radar of most of the general public, and who have Still Got It. (My favorite album of 2013 is a Kickstarter-funded album by a band that started in the mid-1970s.)
The Musical Box is fantastic; barring a few health-related exceptions, I see them every time they get within striking distance of central Iowa – three concerts this year so far. I can’t really compare them to the original group touring today as a whole, but I do have to say, amazing as The Musical Box is and in particular their Peter Gabriel impersonator, Peter Gabriel still puts on an amazing show these days. I saw him with the New Blood Orchestra a few years back and he played quite a few of his classics, and the energy was all still there. It was an amazing show and I’d take it over seeing The Musical Box play. And Steve Hackett is just as much of an amazing guitarist today as he was then, too; he’s still touring, and worth it to go see.
I have read that the original members of Genesis say that the experience of seeing The Musical Box is better than the original concerts, but this is due to technical reasons – they’ve worked out the kinks over the years (Gabriel’s elaborate costuming caused considerable problems) and technology has just moved forward enough. For their time, Genesis was a bit too ambitious with what was available, and it wasn’t always reliable. The Musical Box has the benefit of tweaking everything to look original and sound original, but they don’t have to BE original in every way.
Frankly, I wish he’d drag Phil Collins out of retirement and get the rest of the group together to do a Selling England or Lamb tour. I’d give one of my ovaries to see that, I don’t care how old they are. Yes, their vocal ranges have changed, but songs can be re-arranged.
A while back a friend drug me to a show by Rare Earth. I didn’t want to go because I expected a bunch of old farts milking the last cent from their long past popularity.
They were great! There were a few original members and some young guys that I believe were the offspring of the originals. Loved every minute of it. I think some of these bands get better in terms of musicianship when they are out there plugging away long past their prime.
I had a similar experience seeing Pat Benatar/Neil Geraldo at a local festival. They were great except for when they turned the stage over to their daughter and her backup singers, who were doing sort of a Britney Spears kind of set. I don’t know if they were good or not but the sudden change in tone really killed the 80s arena rock vibe that mom and dad had going.
We saw Pat Benatar last year, too, and she was great (the whole band was great). We’ve seen very few older bands that haven’t been really good - these guys have not flamed out, they haven’t faded away, they haven’t burned out on drugs and alcohol, and because they’re from the era before artists were created in the studio, chances are good that they had some serious natural talent to start with.
After I posted yesterday I stumbled across an hour long show, shot here in town recently at a local music hall, by 70s-80s band Ambrosia. I never paid much attention to them so I’m not sure how many members were originals. All seemed to be old enough to have been originals. They are excellent singers and musicians. Their stuff is still not that appealing to me but there’s no denying they are very talented and still hitting the high notes.
When I saw Ambrosia in the 70s (opening for Styx), the thing that struck me is they seemed uncomfortable being in front of an audience. So much so, it kind of ruined their set for me. How did they do this time around?
Seemed fine. It’s a small venue, friendly audience. This place tapes some of the artists that play there and show them after SNL on the local NBC affiliate.
The bass player/singer mentioned being on Jimmy Fallon’s show recently. Check YouTube.
