Before I go any further, I just want to say that the majority of this post will be snark- and opinion-free. I'm sticking to the facts, people, and you can do with them what you will.Rick French was on News14 earlier today (nearly 2 hours after he said he would be on, but that's more likely to blame on News14's poor scheduling) to announce that Jack Bruce will headline Saturday night's portion of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame benefit concert on Sept. 20. (That's right, it's now a two-day event.) Bruce, who was the lead singer of Cream, will close with a set of Cream tunes, French says, before being joined by his to-be-announced buddies onstage.
Highlights from this morning's announcement include when News14 reporter Tracey Early repeatedly referred to the show as taking place in Raleigh until she glanced down at her notes near the end. Oops! The show will be at Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, which French says was chosen for "its proximity to the UK." I am not kidding.
Other fun "facts":
- "The reserved and VIP [seating] sold out in 22 minutes, I believe," French said. Is that why more than a week later we were still able to find seats via Ticketmaster?
- "The original members of Jefferson Airplane are reuniting with Jefferson Starship and several members of the Grateful Dead to play together," French said. I don't know where to start with this. Jefferson Starship, as it probably doesn't need explaining, is an actively touring band that consists of 2 founders of Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kantner and Marty Balin, as well as Tom Constanten of the Grateful Dead. No other members from Jefferson Airplane or The Grateful Dead have been announced.
It is painfully clear at this point that I'm not the target demographic for this event (and neither are the majority of this blog's readers, so we won't be talking about it much more).
This event is clearly geared toward individuals who were in high school or college in the early 70s and identify with the artists chosen. But you know, I think that's a damn shame. It's unfortunate that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an establishment with inductees spanning several genres of rock music, would go for such a niche audience as to alienate many true music fans.
Is that a little idealistic of me? Absolutely. I guess I just expected too much.
6 comments:
And this is the show that will be talked about for years afterwards? By who? People that like to see members of old bands join with members of other old bands to form a shoddy has-been band? I saw Jack Bruce about 7 years ago and he was pretty good, but now he's that much older, and it wasn't even in my top 100 performances.
Then don't attend, the rest of us will enjoy it. This seems like a personal vendetta on your part. I saw the News 14 story a few minutes ago and that is not what he said. He said it was`easier to get to from the UK than other US cities west of Raleigh, or something like that. Given I work in the music business and all of these artists are represented by a relatively small number of artist management companies, you are buring bridges all over the place. What goes around comes around my dear.
Rewind your tivo, it's a direct quote. And I have no vendetta, nor any ill will towards the artists booked for this show. Like I said in the post, I'm just disappointed given the amount of hype pumped in to this event.
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"It's unfortunate that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an establishment with inductees spanning several genres of rock music, would go for such a niche audience as to alienate many true music fans.
Is that a little idealistic of me? Absolutely. I guess I just expected too much."
DITTO, in a big way. I have just not seen anything of what I expected to come out of this event... very disappointing.
^^^ What other cities west of Raleigh are so difficult to fly into?
The problem is that they hyped this event so much but wouldn't say who was going to play. People bought tickets thinking the show would have many different types of artists representing the Hall, but that is obviously not the case. It looks like it will be showcasing the personal tastes of a few people. Also, don't give a lame answer as to why you're not telling who is playing by saying we don't want scalpers to get a hold of them. That's a blatant lie. Just tell the truth about the contracts and that they had no idea who was playing yet. I like how the guy talking about the news story still can't get the quote right. Bottom line - some slick people in Public Relations tried to get a lot of tickets sold by misleading the public. That's how I see it and many others do. For the few ppl who are looking forward to the show - good for you. I really hope you enjoy it and get your money's worth. For the ppl who feel they got ripped off - I feel sorry for you - hopefully you'll be able to sell them to the ones excited about the show.
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