A discussion a long time coming Options

[patrick W BURG]

Hello,

I've been browsing this board for a few years now, just to keep up with the latest on my favorite band, Live. Today, I finally decided to register, so I can actually contribute.

I read in the tour section a few differing opinions about something that may or may not even be that big of deal, but I have an opinion, so I figured I'd share, for sharing's sake.

I personally can't stand when Ed takes his shirt off at shows. I understand he is the artist, and his expression should ideally be unfettered, but still... I think he loses the connection with the audience. I know he's been doing this for years, but maybe we've just grown numb as to how lame he actually looks.

I've been an AVID Live fan since 94, and I still love the band, and I still love the shows. For me, this is something that I have just learned to tolerate. I recently took one of my buddies to a show, and when he started stripping, I couldn't help but cringe inside. Same thing when I took my girlfriend to a show. It just gets awkward. And both my friend and my girlfriend agreed that the stripping made the show much more cheezy and "gay" and much less cool.

You want to get into the songs wholeheartedly, but something just prevents you from doing so.

So, what do you guys think?

[crazy1]

Hmm... points to ponder I suppose. But something tells me that they don't care what the masses think. Perhaps they only want fans who have evolved with them or relate to the simpler, more comtemplative SFBM LIVE. I wish we knew what they really thought of that album.

As for their popularity? I'm not delusional. I know everyone I know thinks I'm nuts for loving LIVE. SFBM is really the only album they've put out that I can't listen to over and over again. I do worry with you that their popularity will dwindle to the point that they won't tour anymore. I agree that I think they have a lot left in them and I hope that whatever muse has kept them together this long doesn't become silent and uninspiring, leading way to a slow painful death. But on the other hand, maybe they don't want the rockstar lifestyle anymore and are taking it down a notch for family and real life. But if they want to keep making money in the US, I agree that something has to change because they don't seem ready for that.

Doesn't Ed still think he's the world's key to enlightenment? As long as he does, they'll be making music, regardless of record sales. Also, you have to remember that LIVE isn't popular at all in the US compared to overseas. Hasn't Ed said that the center of the LIVE universe is in Holland? How were SFBM sales there and elsewhere? Is that 500K number worldwide? If not, I wouldn't get my hopes up about too much of a change from the status quo.
If so... well, er... I don't want to think about it. Apparently it's still enough to support them for now...

I also get from people...I'm going to see Live in concert and they say Yeah? What band? I have to say the BAND is called "Live", then they repeat themselves .. yeah but what band are you seeing live? it's kinda like that whose on first base joke....