IIRC, folks would predictably get up en masse and head for the bathrooms when the Beach Boys would stop playing their hits from the '60s to ‘do something from our new album’; privately, they of course referred to it as The Bathroom Song.
But once that Tom Cruise movie came out, Kokomo was suddenly their biggest hit.
I vaguely recall an anecdote about Mark Knopfler playing with Dylan on his “Infidels” album and Dylan couldn’t remember the verses of the songs he’d only recently written for that album. Knopfler said “You always did write too many, Bob”, which is hard to argue with at one level. On the other hand, though Mr Tambourine may have too many verses they are all pure genius.
First, an old anecdote. In 1970 I to see a new band, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. At the time, Lucky Man was being played on the radio and that song was really all I knew about the band. The opening act was a band that I knew nothing about called the J. Geils Band. The concert was at a small venue outside of Baltimore called the Painters Mill Music Fair. The J. Geils Band was unbelievable. They had the whole place dancing for 40 minutes. I didn’t see a band with more energy until 1976 when I saw Springsteen for the first time.
Then out came ELP to deflate the mood. I’ve never since seen a band suck the life out of a room like those guys did. And since Lucky Man as recorded included Greg Lake singing all of the parts and playing guitar and bass, they didn’t do it. In fact, Greg Lake played nothing but bass all night. Bummer. But at least I got to see J. Geils at their best, which was really something.
Markxxx’s comments above regarding Pat Benetar capture my feelings about playing hits pretty well. Successful artists owe a lot to their audiences. I’m sure that singing the same songs over and over can become tiresome if you let it. James Taylor certainly could be excused for being sick sometimes of performing some of his biggest and oldest hits, but I think he has come to understand what those songs mean to his fans and what the songs have done for him.
My stepdaughter and son-in-law went to see Prince in concert after weeks of radio commercials that played clips of all his hits. Then in concert she said he played some crap she never heard and very few hits. They should edit those radio spots to not appear to be pulling the bait and switch, which apparently did happen. Also…I love the early Todd Rundgren hits (“Hello It’s Me,” “Why Can’t We be Friends”) and I have rented 3-4 concert DVD’s from Netflix and seen at least two DirecTV concerts and he never plays those songs. He’s always pushed the abstract stuff and sometimes artists just don’t get it…they either don’t understand fans or refuse to admit those songs the record companies maybe forced them to record…the HITS…are still very relevant to us. And that makes the artist themselves still relevant to us years later.
He hasn’t played those two songs for quite a while. The last time I saw him, he did play “Open My Eyes”–at least it’s from the same *era *as Hello It’s Me…
Todd regularly plays a few of his AM hits though; just not the ones you’re hoping for. “I Saw The Light” and “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” are almost always on the setlist. His catalog is huge and he has a loyal fanbase that knows pretty much everything he’s ever put out–we rarely go home disappointed. On the other hand, I can understand how a casual concert-goer would feel let down.
FYI, you’ll probably want to avoid Todd’s next tour…he’ll be playing songs from his new album of Robert Johnson covers.
I saw him a few years ago when he was touring with Emmylou Harris. I wasn’t familiar with his music (I was working at the venue where the show was), but I was floored by how much of a marathon that show was - they started at 7:00 on the dot, and played right through until 11:15 when the friendly (they really are!) police officers were tapping their watches off in the wings (outdoor venue - have to stop at 11:00 due to the noise ordinance). No intermission, the only break he got was when Emmylou Harris did a few solo songs (maybe three or four songs?). Also, she sang backup for many of his songs. It was an awesome concert, and I was glad I ended up working stage security that night instead of front gate.