Fmp
Oh trust me, I’m not trying to get BS tickets, just using it as an example.
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GR show seems to be selling OK, a lot of the available tickets are the overpriced “platinum” BS. I would assume the floor is selling better.
They quickly shut down that $20 ticket deal too well before 1/1/13. GR is definitely a safe spot for UM.
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Lol
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All joking aside (and sorry if this was already hashed out ad nauseum above ITT) but I really feel like this is true, with some exceptions as usual. Crowds really haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels across the board from everything I can tell, at least in the northeast which is all I can speak about.
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Everything is expensive these days. Concerts are a luxury that really are not worth it. It’s an easy expense to cut back on when trying to save money. I would not be surprised if ticket sales were low for the next couple of years outside of top notch/A list acts.
Except for phish, goose, billy strings, etc. Umphrey’s has been falling off not just because the Pandemic but because fans are getting older and less enthusiastic.
A lot of people I know are doing fine economically. I know I am. But why aremt I in port chester? I’ve seen them so many times. All my friends have too. We still love them. But we’re burnt out. And we’re not interested in the new material. The jams have become kinda predictable. Where they are gonna pop up. They rarely vary the actual compositions. They’re not writing new “big” psychedelic progressive jazz odyssey songs like HBB and N2F…
UM isn’t as addictive to them as it once was. And They AREN’T making any new younger fans (https://www.reddit.com/r/Umphreys/comments/109oq2z/randomly_curious_about_the_age_range_of_todays_um/).
So you can blame the pandemic, but I’ve talked to my friends… And when the choice is between seeing this band that we’ve seen 100 times hoping to catch noatalgia and a few good jams or do something new in life, like travel to a different country… We’re gonna do that.
The thing is… It miss it. Like I’m watching the show tonight and there’s moments of brilliance. But I’ve probably just seen them way too much and I’m just not into these new songs. And they can’t force themselves to write songs they don’t want to. But they have to understand that most people didn’t get into the band for their vocals and lyrics.
They also have spent so much time and effort to appeal to a wider base that they in some ways alienated their most dedicated music nerd fans. It’s because you can’t please everybody…, They were never going to be as big as phish or even panic. But they could’ve been sustained their growth if they didn’t play different lame “festival sets” or change the show up on Friday and Saturday night to make it more noob friendly vs how it sounded on Thursday or Wednesday where the setlist was 4 songs and they dropped senor mouse and 13 days YOU’RE A NERDY MUSICIAN’S BAND AND THAT’S WHO LOVES YOU. Those are your most dedicated fans. If you keep catering to them you will get more fans like them that are as dedicated as possible. It’s not hard. Focus on the.people that love you, not fans who aren’t going to listen passively for a year than move on to whatever is trendy next…You’re never going to get better fans than music nerds. Musician fans will buy all your shit, follow you around on tour, and nerd out on their music hard.
They need to just keep it real, embrace their true nerdy selves and fanbase, and fuck everything else. Play the old shit. Jam. Quit the VIP bullshit. Jam. Stop worrying about it your music is accessible on a friday night. Your fanbase is smart enough to figure out out. Jam. Stop scaring people away by being METAL. It’s awesome you guys can rock out. But somewhere along the way that became your go to trick but the real goto trick was your ADD rock abilities where you switched genres 10 times in 3 minutes.
Maybe I’m completely full of shit.
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TL;DR
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Something about seltzer.
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Oh word. I like Waterloo. Mainly just drink my well water though.
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I think that bitch called me a nerd, I’m triggered. 2023 UM has been tight so far.
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When does that dorks book come out?
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I think you make some compelling arguments, however, 99% of bands have their day and eventually their popularity declines. Goose and Billy may be big now, let’s check in on them in 10 years.
The fact that UM still does pretty well is impressive, 25 yrs us a long time to sustain a band. I really don’t think staying in a narrow lane of ADD progressive rock jam-fusion is the best way to sustain or build a fan base. The same issues you bring up (people getting older and not seeing as many shows) would be even more of an issue because they would have even fewer casuals to help make up for it.
At the same time. I don’t really think that UM has strayed that much from the core style that they developed in 03-06. I mean they play 1-2 new songs a night, a tiny amount compared to most artists, and still play the prog-rock heavy hitters. And they are jamming more than ever. Ymmv on the quality of the improv though.
New material is a necessary “evil” of keeping the band interested and pushing them to expand the sound in different ways and some of their best recent tours (18-19, summer 22-present) have come on the heels of new records.
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always took this as a plus
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Are they though?
Yes
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More than 2008?