New music from old bands

Last night, I half-assed listened to Dee Snyder on the Eddie Trunk show, and one of the points he brought up was that no one wants to hear new shit from classic bands, at shows, and furthermore, no one's interested in new music by old bands..  At first, I was like "yeah, bastards, play my favorites."  But then, I really thought about it.

Sure, I have a bad taste in my mouth about new music played the wrong way at shows.  Hello, Megadeth? No one wants to hear Risk from start to finish, then Countdown tacked on to the end of that 45 minute set.  I've never been so bored at a show in my life.  Or, how about when Metallica was touring for Load of Shit, and they played like 4 songs from that album, then 3 more songs from Re Load of Shit.  Then, to appease the masses (snort) they fucking made a MEDLEY of the old favorites.  I've never been so insulted at a show in my life.

So, initially, I was like "yeah.  Dee's right, no one gives a fuck."  But then...Look at Alice Cooper.  He cranks out a new album all the time, and I have them all and they're all stellar.  We went to his Brutal Planet tour, and the whole stage was done conceptually for that album, and he opened with a three song run of the storyline of that album, and you know what?  It blew my mind.  Similar concept for The Eyes of Alice Cooper, and he played a good smattering of new stuff.  But, it was done well, in between some great old ones, when the crowd was rocking, he just launched into it.  Kept us moving, kept us interested.  As far as releasing new music?  Rush's new stuff is deliciously heavy.  More please!  I'm sort of leaning on seeing them live.  I've got the opportunity to go, so maybe.  I'd like to see them play the new stuff! As long as they play a smattering of stuff from over their career.  Scorpions have a new album, and from what I've heard, it sounds really updated. They still have their signature tone, but again it's heavier, more intense, and a little more electronic.  Good on them, I hope they tour the shit out of it.

It's not about new music or not. It's about showmanship.  If you're conceited and douchey, like Iron Maiden who got pissed off at the fans, because the fans got pissed off that they were ONLY going to play their new album, on tour...then fuck you, get up there, and play my favorites, you trained circus monkey.  If, like Alice Cooper, they give us a taste, make us want more, make us want to buy the album, or tell our friends how awesome that new song is, live...then bring it on.  Showmanship.  Twisted Sister has the market cornered on showmanship, they really do bring it. But we've seen them live so many times, and they are so good about playing to the crowd, the set list rarely changes.  They lead with a certain song, bring other songs in the middle, close with others.  I have it memorized.  Nice, but hardly challenging.  For once, maybe Dee's playing it too safe.  Not that he's getting poor doing it.