“The Future of Classic Rock Tours: One or Two Surviving Members…or None?

[Homemade Parachute]

With an eye toward introducing new fans to the band, [talent agent CJ] Strock had an idea — essentially a new Allmans. He reached out to musician clients who were familiar with the songs or who had some connection to the band but were never actually in it. Thus was born “The Allman Brothers Band Presents Trouble No More” — as it’s billed on concert tickets and posters — a multiracial, eight-piece ensemble that plays the band’s repertoire but, thanks to the approval of the Allman Brothers estate, isn’t just a tribute band.

Huh.

Johnny Van Zant, who took over the frontman role in Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987, 10 years after the death of his older brother Ronnie, has witnessed that devotion firsthand. He says he’s watched fans bring the ashes of their loved ones to the front barriers near the lip of the stage at their shows.

Um…

Rather than re-create the recorded versions of the songs, the band has tinkered with the rhythms. The group plays the material “five or ten beat per measure faster, so that current 15-to-30-year-olds would get into it more,” says Strock. “It’s tough for younger people to embrace something owned by their grandparents and that’s not seen as super cool. I’m trying to take that original music and have super-cool men and women in the band play this music like it’s their own.”

Well…

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rock-band-tours-without-original-members-allman-brothers-1234637630/

[agentarmstrong]

Maybe (in light of this article) the estate of Steve Howe one distant day can collaborate with the Chris Squire estate, etc to perpetuate the YES legacy on the road...

And perhaps similarly to what both the Grateful Dead ("Dead & Company") and Allman Brothers Band ("Trouble No More") have out playing the legacies of these bands live on the road... it might be ultimately more satisfying for a Howe-less YES one day to continue with Billy, Jay, etc. as ....

"YES presents YESSONGS"

[Mr. Holland]

Maybe (in light of this article) the estate of Steve Howe one distant day can collaborate with the Chris Squire estate, etc to perpetuate the YES legacy on the road...

And perhaps similarly to what both the Grateful Dead ("Dead & Company") and Allman Brothers Band ("Trouble No More") have out playing the legacies of these bands live on the road... it might be ultimately more satisfying for a Howe-less YES one day to continue with Billy, Jay, etc. as ....

"YES presents YESSONGS"

....of course, with Billy having organised all sorts of tribute albums and having many musician connections through that, he would be about the perfect guy to organise such a thing. In fact, wasn't that what Circa: originally grew out of? The idea of a "Yes family" album/project?!

[Chrisklenox]

....of course, with Billy having organised all sorts of tribute albums and having many musician connections through that, he would be about the perfect guy to organise such a thing. In fact, wasn't that what Circa: originally grew out of? The idea of a "Yes family" album/project?!

That was my understanding.

In response to the initial post, I think that's all good... I mean younger generations of musicians carrying on this stuff with the blessings of the estates. Why not? No one lives forever, and classic rock is... classic. There will be an audience for this stuff for many generations just like Jazz or Classical music. Heck, my son is 3, and I think it would be amazing to bring him to an arena show to hear the Allmans or Pink Floyd or Yes just as you would go to hear Bach being played or go to a club to hear bebop as it was in the late 50's.

[Old Frothingslosh]

Everything has a beginning and an end.

[josuev80]

That was my understanding.

In response to the initial post, I think that's all good... I mean younger generations of musicians carrying on this stuff with the blessings of the estates. Why not? No one lives forever, and classic rock is... classic. There will be an audience for this stuff for many generations just like Jazz or Classical music. Heck, my son is 3, and I think it would be amazing to bring him to an arena show to hear the Allmans or Pink Floyd or Yes just as you would go to hear Bach being played or go to a club to hear bebop as it was in the late 50's.

Yes hasn’t played arenas in years. No reason to think they would be in the future.

[patrickq]

The Glenn Miller Orchestra and the (post-Holly) Crickets may seem to be the originators of this, but I’ll bet the idea evolved earlier. Certainly doo-wop groups have been doing it for years.

Everything has a beginning and an end.

Absolutely. The question is, who gets to decide? The Miller group is still going strong 80 years after Miller’s (presumed) death, so apparently there are enough fans who don’t want to see it end. But yeah, give it another 80 years and that may well not be true.

PS the supposedly liberal Rolling Stone has become sufficiently stodgy and conservative to treat this issue as a moral panic. I’m sure bands in their prime have had people bring ashes to their concerts. Us old people don’t want to give up the past—human nature, I suppose.

[luna65]

Right, they used to be referred to as "nostalgia" shows or package tours - and those things still carry on to this day. But I remember there was the same kind of discourse when '50s-era groups/artists were still continuing to perform in the 1970s. It's absolutely nothing new.

[Homemade Parachute]

It's nothing new on the one hand, with nostalgia/legacy/tribute bands, but I think one thing which is different, maybe, is the emphasis on later 60s/70s artists as writers or virtuosos (or both!), so there's an identification with the artist as originator, as opposed to, say, interpreter — much like the shift in The Beatles and Rolling Stones away from covering other material to producing almost exclusively original material. The Glenn Miller Orchestra can offer a range of songs either made famous by Miller (and also largely written by others and played by others at the same time), or played in his style, but that's a wee bit different from someone offering "An Evening of Dylan Music Plus!", say.

TL;DR: to add to YesO and YesF, we'll maybe soon have YesA(uthorized) or YesL(icensed)!

[bondegezou]

I think the "X Presents Y" model is a good way to square the circle, so to speak. There's an honesty that the line-up being promoted are not the original band, but also that they're not just another tribute band, that they have been blessed by the original band. I think that provides continuity for those who want continuity and a discontinuity for those who want a discontinuity.

If you don't want your favourite band to go on and on, there's been a clear end point and your favourite band has stopped. If you do want your favourite band to go on and on, here is the named successor.

[yamishogun]

Yes hasn’t played arenas in years. No reason to think they would be in the future.

Rabin could easily fill an arena*





*As long as he was opening for Taylor Swift...

[Homemade Parachute]

Will 2023 bring us "Journey presents… Neal Schon", "Neil Schon presents… Journey", or "Journey presents… Journey*"?

*Featuring Neal Schon

[rabin105]

I have said this before I and I will say it again yes could play arenas if they brought in someone who is already filling arenas

say if John Mayer became their guitarist ….

ok that would be bad as Mayer can maybe play owner of a lonely heart and that’s about it but you get my point


now would many fans here be happy with a yes of Davison Downes Schellen Sherwood and a guitarist who filled stadiums as a solo act and is now in yes… no


but some would and there would be enough new fans because of said guitarist that would you know impact things well

[Frumious B]

The Estate of Sean Connery Presents An Evening of Yesh Music

[Mr. Holland]

I have said this before I and I will say it again yes could play arenas if they brought in someone who is already filling arenas

say if John Mayer became their guitarist ….

ok that would be bad as Mayer can maybe play owner of a lonely heart and that’s about it but you get my point


now would many fans here be happy with a yes of Davison Downes Schellen Sherwood and a guitarist who filled stadiums as a solo act and is now in yes… no


but some would and there would be enough new fans because of said guitarist that would you know impact things well

If it's someone who is relatively close in his/her own music to Yes music perhaps. But I don't believe that people who are fans of John Mayer will fall in floods for Yes music.

It's not like if Steve Howe decided to be Lady Gags'a guitarist for a tour, Yes fans would come down in hordes to see Lady Gaga. It's musically too far removed.