Your Desires For Next Year (2019), Wish Away Here... Options

[Gruno]

Not familiar with Bruce's gigs...

Bruce has been known to perform 2.5-3 hour shows. Your list isn't realistic with 25+ songs in a setlist for Live in 2019.

[FishOutaWater]

My wish for the next year.

Cut the non-Live musicians loose. Play longer than 60 - 90 minutes. Mix up the setlist from show to show. Play deeper cuts. Be less afraid to fail or offend, less concerned about pleasing, less concerned about coming across as "cool", less perfunctory and show more of their authentic side. Don't be afraid to mess up. Let every night on stage be different and don't play short, greatest-hits performances as an opening act, and stop repeating the same stage performance. Headline some Live shows. Release an album that sounds like the stuff they created before 1999.

This post has been edited by FishOutaWater: Sep 13 2018, 4:13 pm

[Voodoo Lady]

Bruce has been known to perform 2.5-3 hour shows. Your list isn't realistic with 25+ songs in a setlist for Live in 2019.

I did ask for “realistic” desires. And while I wouldn’t expect Līve to play 26 songs, more likely I expect 16-18 for a headlining show. (Hopefully 18) But can you please explain why they couldn’t play 25+ in 2019? If Bruce can at his age, why couldn’t it be realistic for Līve? Thank you.

[FishOutaWater]

I did ask for “realistic” desires. And while I wouldn’t expect Līve to play 26 songs, more likely I expect 16-18 for a headlining show. (Hopefully 18) But can you please explain why they couldn’t play 25+ in 2019? If Bruce can at his age, why couldn’t it be realistic for Līve? Thank you.

This week I saw Elton John perform for 2 1/2 hours and he is 74 years old. I saw Bruce perform for 4+ hours twice on his last tour. There are so many bands out there with a mastery of their catalog who work hard every night on stage to make a one-of-a-kind, roof-collapsing, crowd-pleasing spectacle and leave every ounce out there on the stage.

I have been holding back my feelings about what's been going on for a while. I have been a passionate super-fan of this band for decades. But I must admit that I've been disenchanted with the same sets every night, and the same one-liners, and arm-in-arm moments and synchronized jumping and microphone pumping at the same times in the same shows night after night. This isn't new. Many years ago I would drive from show to show and see them many times on each tour and the setlists were always identical, the crowd interaction repeated, and they hit their marks throughout the set like it was staged. I'd love to see them unleashed. I know what they are capable of. It feels like they are trying to be safe. I've put my fandom on hold for a little while, waiting hopefully for something that excited me down the road.

This post has been edited by FishOutaWater: Sep 13 2018, 4:44 pm

[Voodoo Lady]

This week I saw Elton John perform for 2 1/2 hours and he is 74 years old. I saw Bruce perform for 4+ hours twice on his last tour. There are so many bands out there with a mastery of their catalog who work hard every night on stage to make a one-of-a-kind, roof-collapsing, crowd-pleasing spectacle and leave every ounce out there on the stage.

I have been holding back my feelings about what's been going on for a while. I have been a passionate super-fan of this band for decades. But I must admit that I've been disenchanted with the same sets every night, and the same one-liners, and arm-in-arm moments and synchronized jumping and microphone pumping at the same times in the same shows night after night. This isn't new. Many years ago I would drive from show to show and see them many times on each tour and the setlists were always identical, the crowd interaction repeated, and they hit their marks throughout the set like it was staged. I'd love to see them unleashed. I know what they are capable of. It feels like they are trying to be safe. I've put my fandom on hold for a little while, waiting hopefully for something that excited me down the road.

I very much, whole-heartedly understand and agree with you in this post. I guess I’m guilty of passively (although not aggressively, lol) trying to make this point with Gruno. I really am interested in hearing why he believes Līve can’t do the same as Bruce and Elton and why Līve has performed canned show & not to their full potential for years & years.

[FishOutaWater]

For what it’s worth, and I swear this is not meant to be about Ed or battles between fans that have occured over the years - but I saw The Gracious Few 4 or 5 times, and they really blew the roof off the place and every show was unique. They headlined shows in small venues. There was actually stage diving and long guitar solos. They added the acoustic front porch session in the middle of a few of the shows. They gave away T shirts and autographed posters. I even recall they sent out free T shirts for some sort of online mistake (I forget exactly what that was about). Chad Taylor made heart-felt speeches. Who could forget Chad Taylor severing his quadricep in the middle of the show and finishing the song rolling around on the ground and then posting the bad ass video follow-up with the quote “It’s called rock n roll. Look it up!” They introduced new songs. They were having fun and being artists and that authenticity came through so loud and clear that it was brilliant.

How about not being afraid to offend anybody and rip out Peace Is Now (10,000) Years and Mother Earth Earth is a Vicious Crowd and try and create some change in this world. Talk about poets and preachers and politicians in a way that’s real and demand change. Nobody made music about what is needed most now better than Live in the 90’s!

This post has been edited by FishOutaWater: Sep 13 2018, 5:13 pm

[Gruno]

I did ask for “realistic” desires. And while I wouldn’t expect Līve to play 26 songs, more likely I expect 16-18 for a headlining show. (Hopefully 18) But can you please explain why they couldn’t play 25+ in 2019? If Bruce can at his age, why couldn’t it be realistic for Līve? Thank you.

Stamina.

Sure, you can throw a few names into the pot and state, "this act performs x-amount of songs and performs for x-amount of hours." But, every musician is built differently. Live wouldn't be able to perform a 25+ song set nightly and expect to continue touring like that for any amount of time. Normal fatigue would surely put an end to that. It is not realistic to ask or expect that from them, or many other acts.

I've discussed this topic with quite a few multi-platinum vocalists. Not one of them said they would put their vocals through that type of longevity abuse.

Voodoo Lady, you like Tesla. This year Tesla have been averaging opening sets of 8 songs, and headlining sets with roughly 15. Now, ask yourself the same question you asked me about Live, but insert Tesla/Jeff Keith instead: If Bruce can do it, would Tesla be able to sustain a 25 song set, 5 days per week for 2 months? How would Jeff Keith's vocals hold up?

[SJN1279]

Live performed awesome throughout this entire tour. Casual and long time fans were very impressed, and the reviews for Live were overwhelmingly positive.

If you saw the set, it flowed perfectly, and was near perfect IMHO.

[Voodoo Lady]

Stamina.

Sure, you can throw a few names into the pot and state, "this act performs x-amount of songs and performs for x-amount of hours." But, every musician is built differently. Live wouldn't be able to perform a 25+ song set nightly and expect to continue touring like that for any amount of time. Normal fatigue would surely put an end to that. It is not realistic to ask or expect that from them, or many other acts.

I've discussed this topic with quite a few multi-platinum vocalists. Not one of them said they would put their vocals through that type of longevity abuse.

Voodoo Lady, you like Tesla. This year Tesla have been averaging opening sets of 8 songs, and headlining sets with roughly 15. Now, ask yourself the same question you asked me about Live, but insert Tesla/Jeff Keith instead: If Bruce can do it, would Tesla be able to sustain a 25 song set, 5 days per week for 2 months? How would Jeff Keith's vocals hold up?

Yes, I love Tesla. But Jeff Keith wrecked his voice years ago. He’s also has hip replacement surgery AND he’s 59 years old.

I can’t wait to see how long 70 year old Aerosmith’s setlist is at their Las Vegas residency.

So yea, what you are saying is, you don’t think Ed would have the vocal stamina of other artists and would permanently wreck his voice. -As I figured your answer would be.

And honestly, if Ed did permanently wreck his voice, I’d feel for him big time. Because there are some ruthless Live “fans” out there who would bully him to no end about it. He’d never live it down.

This post has been edited by Voodoo Lady: Sep 13 2018, 6:25 pm

[Voodoo Lady]

Live performed awesome throughout this entire tour. Casual and long time fans were very impressed, and the reviews for Live were overwhelmingly positive.

If you saw the set, it flowed perfectly, and was near perfect IMHO.

Never said they didn’t perform awesomely. I had a killer time at Austin’s show.

I, however, don’t agree that the cookie cutter set list was near perfect. I don’t care for the slow encore and the fact that they beat that blues cover like a dead horse. So glad I got to see Shit Towne instead.

[Voodoo Lady]

For what it’s worth, and I swear this is not meant to be about Ed or battles between fans that have occured over the years - but I saw The Gracious Few 4 or 5 times, and they really blew the roof off the place and every show was unique. They headlined shows in small venues. There was actually stage diving and long guitar solos. They added the acoustic front porch session in the middle of a few of the shows. They gave away T shirts and autographed posters. I even recall they sent out free T shirts for some sort of online mistake (I forget exactly what that was about). Chad Taylor made heart-felt speeches. Who could forget Chad Taylor severing his quadricep in the middle of the show and finishing the song rolling around on the ground and then posting the bad ass video follow-up with the quote “It’s called rock n roll. Look it up!” They introduced new songs. They were having fun and being artists and that authenticity came through so loud and clear that it was brilliant.

How about not being afraid to offend anybody and rip out Peace Is Now (10,000) Years and Mother Earth Earth is a Vicious Crowd and try and create some change in this world. Talk about poets and preachers and politicians in a way that’s real and demand change. Nobody made music about what is needed most now better than Live in the 90’s!

Amen!!

Even though I did not closely follow Gracious Few, I do remember when Chad hurt himself & did that. It was a bad ass rock star move.

Often I wonder what Līve are scared of. As I mentioned above, they have some ruthless, harsh fans who oddly seem to love to see them fail. Crazy as it sounds, sometimes I wonder if those fans are what they are scared of.

[Hoodstock]

Not familiar with Bruce's gigs...

He plays huge sets every night - about 3 hours straight.

[Hoodstock]

Live performed awesome throughout this entire tour. Casual and long time fans were very impressed, and the reviews for Live were overwhelmingly positive.

If you saw the set, it flowed perfectly, and was near perfect IMHO.

Having seen the show I have to say it was a very solid set and a fun concert. Live was loud and rocking. I put down the canned setlist initially but I only saw one show and it was good.

[Gruno]

Yes, I love Tesla. But Jeff Keith wrecked his voice years ago. He’s also has hip replacement surgery AND he’s 59 years old.

Of course. Which also proves my point from earlier: every musician is built differently.

I can’t wait to see how long 70 year old Aerosmith’s setlist is at their Las Vegas residency.

I walked out on three of their shows in 2003. Couldn't take more than 3 songs.

So yea, what you are saying is, you don’t think Ed would have the vocal stamina of other artists and would permanently wreck his voice. -As I figured your answer would be.

Well, no, I didn't say that. Not at all. When I referred to stamina, I included the entire band.

I've discussed the topic with other vocalists. I have no idea if Ed would have the vocal stamina to perform 25+ songs each performance. There's no telling what would happen since it hasn't happened. Although the possibilities are endless, it's just common sense to figure out what might happen to the voice of virtually ANY artist averaging a 90 minute set (as an example) for 20 years, to then add another 40-60 minutes to every concert going forward. No, I wouldn't want to put Ed's voice through that to merely satisfy a small section of fans.

And honestly, if Ed did permanently wreck his voice, I’d feel for him big time. Because there are some ruthless Live “fans” out there who would bully him to no end about it. He’d never live it down.

In addition to the current and past vitriol from (alleged) fans right here on this message board, who appear to salivate as they inspect every move he makes, only to pounce and ridicule him?

[dangum]

Ok, let's not turn this thread into another argument.

Some people "desire" Live to play a long setlist. Good for them. If you don't think the band is capable then move on. No need to dissect the probability or possibility of every request.

There's already a thread regarding Live's poor setlist - move the discussion over there and keep this one free for new and exciting ideas for 2019.