Visited UM HQ this past week and snapped this pic of KB
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He don’t care. He has the sweet profits of bitcoin to… oh wait.
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Post-pandemic concert boom is seemingly busted. This isn’t exclusive to UM, but seems like other acts are struggling this year as well.
Lots of tickets still available for White River, including pit. I kind of feel sorry for the band because touring is their bread and butter and it’s probably hard to attract a lot of new fans at this point in their career, short of some sort of new hit song going viral.
Meanwhile, some acts, mostly outside of the jam band world, are packing stadiums.
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Now I’m wondering if they’ll move the 5500 seat Salt Shed show to somewhere else
Prolly Martyrs
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At this rate I expect a farewell tour to be announced.
Maybe if they start writing songs that talk about alligators, butter rum, and shama lama ding dongs. That would probably help with the younger crowd. See goooooooosssseeee
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I hope they don’t cancel Napa. I don’t think my hotel is refundable. But it’s also a pretty small venue and it’s one of those places people up there buy summer passes to. It’ll probably be good even if no one goes.
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I think the current lean is country as far as music goes. Post Malone is already ahead of the game.
Most of UM’s original diehard fans that toured with them are in their 30’s and 40’s now, and can’t travel to see them like they used to. They averaged over 150 shows in the early-mid 2000’s, over 100 through most of the 2010’s, but 80 last year and will likely end the year with fewer than 80 in 2024. Is there a correlation between fewer shows every year and declining ticket sales due to a lack of newer fans?
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They could do 4 song sets with a 40 minute banger every night, and i still think the fans don’t show. Jam bands aren’t in anymore probably because the EDM scene sucked in any newer and younger wooks that want drug music.
Maybe in a few years, the 2000s nostalgia will hit and we’ll see a little renaissance of sorts.
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I know nothing but feel like UM’s off stage crew is a lot larger compared to many bands/artists playing the same size venues. I wonder if there’s a point in the current climate where it’s no longer sustainable. Awful to think about but a reality for a lot of midsize bands
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Except for Grateful Dead related stuff and Phish which are still instant sell outs with endless demand.
I’m just not at the point where I wanna go out of my way to see bands as much now that I’m in my mid 30s. I know many of the friends I made through UM are the same way. I actually have appreciated the shows more going down to like 2 a year the last few years. But obviously if a ton of fans are in that mindset it’s not great for the band’s future prospects. I’m gonna just enjoy them while I can.
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I’m not sure who runs their social media but that person needs to be replaced. Their whole organic content strategy since the pandemic has been a mess. I’m glad they are finally doing the free Nugs streams because they really need to get all the exposure they can get right now.
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And Billy, and panic, and goose. There’s a handful of bands old and young that still have no problem selling tickets. The more niche jam bands might not fare out as well.
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The seams could start to really fall apart, quickly.
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RIP UM
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You’re bringing up a whole different caliber of jam bands than I was. Of course people want to see the 2 best to ever do it, and they’ve had far more exposure than others.
My take on this is probably not going to be well received, but here goes…
I think social media should be an afterthought at most. The best possible thing UM can do is to actually look at what has worked for them, and double down on it.
They became popular during the phish hiatus, by making slinky, psychedelic, progressive JAM music that is unique and near impossible to imitate.
Cool time signatures, weird jams, progressive time signatures, and a bit of FUN sprinkled in makes a huge difference.
About 10 years ago they switched to “musicianship for the masses” instead of “interesting, unique, and psychedelic prog music”. Almost all the new songs are pop 4/4 garbage. They are mostly concerned with writing shitty alt/indie imitations that they think will have appeal.
Having 10 loyal fans that go to 100 shows is better than 100 fairweather fans who go to 5 shows.
UM needs to rise up and melt fucking spunions. New Wings is a perfect example of how shitty the songwriting has gotten.
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Tell @goldlikejoel to hire me.
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