Look at the poster above. Pretty awesome, right? The headliners would do 20 minutes, Kim Weston and Mary Wells only one or two songs.
Alyson wrote yesterday how she thought KROQ’s Acoustic Christmas shows were a rip off because the sets are too short.
I disagree.
Kings Of Leon would’ve been great if they had played a three song set. Even the sleepy time Broken bells would be a joy for 15 minutes. And imagine if Billy Corgan went on stage, sang “1969” and buggered off or Love did the same with “Doll Parts”.
It is difficult for a moderately talented band to excite for 90 minutes. This has nothing to do with attention span and everything to do with how do you maintain a set. We know the tricks now and it goes like this:
1. 1 big hit
2. 1 moderate hit
3. 4 New album tracks
4. Upcoming single
5. 1 moderate hit
6. 3 deep catalogue songs (ergo: mid set lull)
7. 1 big hit
Encore
8. 1 moderate hit
9. 1 deep catalogue song
10. 1 Big hit
Now imagine this:
1. Big Hit
2. Moderate hit
3. Single off new album
4. Big Hit
For even the weakest band with any sought of back catalogue, the latter is where it is at. Why invest $60 to see KOL, when you can invest $100 and get a good feel for nine other bands AND SEE A BETTER SET BY KOL.
I checked out the KROQ line ups and I could see barely anybody who wouldn’t improve with a truncated set. I see many many concerts and my biggest complaint is that the sets are too long. By the half way mark the self-indulgence is unbearable. There ought to be a law against it.
Look: if everybody from Frank Sinatra to Stevie Wonder spent goodly portions of their careers playing revues, why can’t Phoenix?
How is this for a line up
Elvis Costello
Vampire Weekend
LCD Soundsystem
Best Coast
Titus Andronicus
Broken Bells
Wavves
Holy Ghost!
Free Energy
DJ: Luca Valencia
Think they could sell out a coupla nights at MSG? think this might introduce some band to other audience, while giving Titus band leader Patrick Stickles some practise at rocking 20K people? What if you put U2 on top. tell em to leave their bullshit stage props and rock out for 5 songs?
So, Alyson, invest your $100 on KROQ with my blessing (Sunday, not Saturday).