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Going to concerts without hearing the bands music first

F

foidulus

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 15, 2007
904
1
Yay or Nay?

I'm heading to Rock Im Ring in June, and while there are a ton of bands I love at the show, there are a bunch that I don't, namely Chris Cornell's solo stuff(I could ask that he play "Big Dumb Sex" but I bet it will fall on deaf ears)

Does anyone else like discovering bands at these type of things? Or do you think you miss out by not hearing the studio version first?
 
I'm up against the same thing. I'm going to the Honda Civic Tour next weekend, and I only know two of the bands playing (Panic and Motion City). I think it'll be good, though, cause one that I know is the headliner.

Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy Phantom Planet and Hush Sound enough to buy their albums on iTunes.
 
This is how you discover great local bands!

However if you have friends with similar taste I'd say go, that is what I did and I listen to them a lot now (The Starting Line/Copeland/Cartel), anything under $20 is worth it, go and have a good time.
 
I'd try to scope them out on the internet and see if they've got any demo tracks online or read up on their bio at the very least.

But if somebody recommends them, it's not too expensive, and it's my style of music or they have a good reputation. Then yes yes yes all the way.
 
I've done it before. I went to a John Mayer concert just to see Ben Folds (he was opening).

Previous to that I hadn't heard John Mayer outside a single of his.


I also did that to a Matt The Electrician show. Southpaw Jones was playing with him, and now I adore that man! :)
 
apsterling said:
I'm up against the same thing. I'm going to the Honda Civic Tour next weekend, and I only know two of the bands playing (Panic and Motion City). I think it'll be good, though, cause one that I know is the headliner.

Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy Phantom Planet and Hush Sound enough to buy their albums on iTunes.
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*is extremely jealous*

When I went to see FOB I heard music from FOB and Gym Class Heroes (and well Plain White T's, but it was just "Hey There Delilah") I was not excited at all for PWT's, but they were actually really good. I really like them, and not because of their hit single.

And when I saw Cobra Starship the only band I knew was CS, so the three openers were going to be new. I liked The Cab and We The Kings, but Metro Station was meh.

I'm going to Warped Tour this summer, so I'll probably be seeing a lot of new bands. I think it's good to go out and get some new music the live way.
 
I'll go to a show if I know of at least one act. If that's the case, I'm usually going to see the support act, not the main one. However, if it's a giant multi-act venue at a big place, it's sometimes not worth it. I went to this giant country-rock show at Red Rocks primarily to see Ryan Adams (the main act) and the Old 97's, who played about five hours before him, and it wasn't a good time because the acts before and after the aforementioned played longer than them, weren't very good, and was sort of impersonal at such a big venue. Ryan Adams didn't even come on until about midnight, and he played all of six songs.

apsterling said:
Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy Phantom Planet and Hush Sound enough to buy their albums on iTunes.
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Phantom Planet are amazing. I first bought one of their albums about seven years ago. I haven't really kept up on them much. Their new stuff isn't as good as their old stuff, but I still bought it. I didn't know they signed with Fueled by Ramen. That's quite a switch from Epic.
 
Yeah, it definitely depends on price. If it's a local/really small band that costs me £5-£10 for a ticket then I don't mind if I don't know them. I will research a bit beforehand and once there, I'll probably spend a fair amount of time going to and from the bar.

It's much better when you know the band though. I saw The Cure at Wembley the other week and their 3 and a half hour set was so amazing - I didn't think about my sore feet once.
 
Almost all the time. As long as the price is right. Mostly I go to local all ages shows so I don't feel that I wasted my cash if I don't like one or all bands (I like supporting all ages concerts/venues)
 
joepunk said:
Almost all the time. As long as the price is right. Mostly I go to local all ages shows so I don't feel that I wasted my cash if I don't like one or all bands (I like supporting all ages concerts/venues)
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I don't understand why venues have limits. I'm 15, and the limit at this show I wanted to go to last week was 16. :rolleyes:
 
I find almost inevitably that bands I see for the first time live and enjoy are truly awful on record, and bands I'm not familiar with that are so horrible live that I avoid them end up sounding great when I finally stumble upon a recording.

It's a crazy world.
 
Unspeaked said:
I find almost inevitably that bands I see for the first time live and enjoy are truly awful on record, and bands I'm not familiar with that are so horrible live that I avoid them end up sounding great when I finally stumble upon a recording.

It's a crazy world.
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The former is a result of a vocal track; the latter is the result of studio musicians. :p
 
apsterling said:
I'm up against the same thing. I'm going to the Honda Civic Tour next weekend, and I only know two of the bands playing (Panic and Motion City). I think it'll be good, though, cause one that I know is the headliner.

Who knows, maybe I'll enjoy Phantom Planet and Hush Sound enough to buy their albums on iTunes.
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Phantom Planet meh, but The Hush Sound rock face. Love their new album (Goodbye Blues), and the one previous to that (Like Vines).
 
I've yet to go to a concert where I've heard of all of the bands performing. It's a great way to discover new bands. I saw a band called Ballyhoo when I saw Story of the Year and 311 last month and they turned out to be pretty good. I've been meaning to buy their CD, I've just been broke.
 
iMacZealot said:
I don't understand why venues have limits. I'm 15, and the limit at this show I wanted to go to last week was 16. :rolleyes:
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It's because the venue can get cheaper insurance. Well, that's true in the UK anyway, plenty of venues are over 18's or 21's because they don't have to deal with those sorts of hassles - stuff like IDing at the bar, etc etc.
 
iMacZealot said:
I don't understand why venues have limits. I'm 15, and the limit at this show I wanted to go to last week was 16. :rolleyes:
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Most people don't want a bunch of little kids running around while they're trying to enjoy the show. Not saying that you're an annoying little brat, because I doubt you are, but you have to draw the line somewhere and I guess 16 works. Old enough to drive, old enough to behave....hopefully.
 
Go for it! It's just money, and who knows, you might hear some new stuff that you really like.

Now, if someone told me you'd be going to see Kenny G. and some other similar bands, I might reconsider my advice...
 
sometimes you miss out on a good band because they are having an off day when you see them live. but then again, sometimes you hear one of those bands that suck ass live and only sound good out of the studio. some bands have horrible singers live, but somehow on their CD they are perfectly in tune. ahhh, the magic of commercial music production...
 
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