Jun 012009
In an recent thread Townsman sourbob proposed the following topic for discussion on The Main Stage:
Good bands you might miss out on if you judge them by which bands/circuit they tour with.
Let’s do it! I’m sure you’ve all judged an artist or a band by its touring circuit at one time or another. Which rose above their circuit that fellow Townspeople shouldn’t miss out on if they have been holding simiilar biases?
Old 97’s have opened for bands like Matchbox 20 over the years. Putting that aside, they seem to have a kind of preppie/NPR/Starbucks reputation, but they’re much better than all that would imply. (Or they were, I haven’t really kept up with their last few releases.)
I had the damnedest time convincing friends of mine to check out the Drive-By Truckers are they finished a tour with the Black Crowes.
the inverse of this immediately came to mind:
witnessing the complete and utter anger of old school neil young fans when they heard sonic youth on the “ragged glory” tour.
Neil Young fans are not really that tolerant….
well let me try that again.
Neil Young’s Philadelphia area fans are not really that tolerant…
Wow, my first topic suggestion ever and it sure was a dud.
Eh well.
Keep swinging, sourbob! We’ve all had our share of duds. This one actually had more of an influence on discussion than you may think: it inspired Sammy’s band name thread. No joke!
I was trying to think about this, but I kept coming back to jam bands and couldn’t think of a great band from a bad circuit. It’s been so long since I’ve even thought about circuits. In the days of Southern Rock, for instance, there were probably tours on which bands I liked better might have started out opening for a Southern Rock band. For instance, someone like Tom Petty may have started on that circuit, but I can’t remember when I first heard of him.
I just saw a few minutes of Derek Trucks Band in concert on tv and despite suffering from the double-whammy of being part of both the Jam Band and Southern Rock circuits, the two songs I saw were very good. Plus he and his band members (all African American guys) wore great earth-toned shirts and dashikis.