That’s sort of fair. However, if we take drive-ins for instance, Goose (I believe) sold out both of their mid-week Frederick shows. I was at the one UM show there and it seemed like it was 1/3 full.
2018 was def like 3/4 full. Balcony was super open
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At this stage in their career they can really lean into it when they play some Spinal Tap covers. It’s art imitating life at its purest.
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The thing that’s crazy/frustrating to me is that if I put together a playlist of roughly 100 good versions of songs from the past, and then played someone some of their recent shows, there would be utter confusion.
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They did sell out Meijer Garden again this year. That said, almost every act sells out Meijer Garden because people just go there to have a picnic.
They were never going to hit big. Too many musical styles, even during their “music for the masses” jams.
As a father myself I wonder if their kids need to grow up and go away to college so they have more time to pour into practicing, composing, re-listening to their performances and using what worked and what didn’t to get better… all the things they did when the were younger and hungrier and willing to pay their dues in order to cultivate a following.
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Sparse and emotive, the thread perfectly captured the mood that morning.
UM will sell 2000+ tix anytime they play GR. Havnt skipped a beat up here.
Which i expect them to rely on us more now that other annual markets are declining.
Their new CBD oil will make them popular again!
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Yeah, nobody else has thought of that already.
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UM should book a residency at the Barrymore to work some things out. No webcasts, no VIP sets, no gimmicks, no guests, no covers.
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So, like once a year instead of every 3-4 years?
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I was being sarcastic. UM’s biggest issue is consistency. They have a killer 2019 and a promising pre-covid 2020, and then it’s gone to shit ever since. As @WhoDatVols said, when you have Phish killing it out there and just about every other jam band, including Twiddle, killing it as well, while UM has had maybe 1 or 2 good shows this year, it just doesn’t bode well for them.
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I’ll still never understand the need to compare bands like that. This is literally the only fanbase for a “genre” of music that constantly compares bands (that don’t sound the same) together.
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Oh, so was I.
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The only thing being compared is show quality, not the style.
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Outside of the bort i’m not seeing anybody complaining about UM’s show quality. The bort is a very small percentage of UM’s fanbase.
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True and we’re the most critical ones for sure. But I have legit heard their decline since the pandemic. Hopefully it’s just a funk and they’ll get their groove back like they did in 2019.
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Even Joel knows they’ve been declining
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