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Post by sthubbins on Nov 20, 2019 8:42:06 GMT -6
good = a good act's performance of a good album in full is usually better than that act's normal sets
bad = a good act's performance of a good album in full is usually worse than that act's normal sets
or interpret it however you want
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Post by Xamnam on Nov 20, 2019 8:43:34 GMT -6
Assuming the album is strong enough to justify playing it in full, good.
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Post by mookie on Nov 20, 2019 8:44:52 GMT -6
I would normally vote bad, but something like the National doing Boxer was fantastic, so it really all depends
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Post by thebosma on Nov 20, 2019 8:46:29 GMT -6
The National playing Boxer last year was great and notably better than their other two sets I saw last year. I haven’t seen Belle and Sebastian outside of their If You’re Feeling Sinister set at Pitchfork but that was a good majority of what got me to the fest that day and it sounded amazing
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 8:46:36 GMT -6
There are a lot of ways to pick this apart but I'm voting for "good" because at the baseline it gets bands performing songs they probably usually wouldn't, which is a good opportunity to see favorite deep cuts.
On the whole though, for bands I've seen do album sets AND regular sets, the regular sets have been better every time.
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Post by claypoolfan on Nov 20, 2019 8:47:00 GMT -6
Here's the way I see it - if I'm at a full album set, it's because I like that album and I will probably like the songs they are playing. If I don't like an album, I'm not gonna go to that set. So I tend to inherently enjoy them.
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Post by sthubbins on Nov 20, 2019 8:48:51 GMT -6
Going to a bunch of these in quick succession recently made me look back and realize I usually prefer when a band just does a mix of their catalogue even if that means I don't love every individual song as much. More spontaneity, more excitement when they bust out a song you love, and less retroactively forcing a recorded thing to fit a live setting. There are exceptions, of course.
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 8:49:18 GMT -6
I was gonna say something about also trying to preserve elements of surprise at live shows but most of us are stubborn assholes that look at setlists / dont have fun at shows anyway
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Post by Xamnam on Nov 20, 2019 8:49:41 GMT -6
Pro: you know exactly when the best time to go to the bathroom is
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Post by llamaoftime on Nov 20, 2019 8:52:26 GMT -6
In general good, but I don't think every album needs it to happen. Also if a band already is playing like 50% or more of that album in their regular sets then it's kind of pointless usually. I want to add another question- Would you always want the album played in order, or would you prefer the full album played but out of order? On Built to Spills most recent tour, they played all of Keep It Like a Secret but they played it out of order. Not sure if I preferred that or not. It is a bit fun to not know what song is coming next
edit- Massive Attack did that on their Mezzanine tour too
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Post by Xamnam on Nov 20, 2019 8:54:38 GMT -6
Bloc Party did Silent Alarm backwards, which worked well for that album, but is about the most deviation I'd really like.
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 8:55:11 GMT -6
In general good, but I don't think every album needs it to happen. Also if a band already is playing like 50% or more of that album in their regular sets then it's kind of pointless usually. I want to add another question- Would you always want the album played in order, or would you prefer the full album played but out of order? On Built to Spills most recent tour, they played all of Keep It Like a Secret but they played it out of order. Not sure if I preferred that or not. It is a bit fun to not know what song is coming next I hate hate hate hate hate it when they do it out of order. If the whole draw is that you're playing all those songs, there's usually some connection to be made by playing them in sequence. Garbage did the same thing BTS did and it was annoying seeing what felt like a regular setlist with a bunch of weird deep cuts sprinkled into it. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2019 8:55:33 GMT -6
i think it's a good thing for bands even when it's an album i dont care for. lets them try out songs they may have looked over previously or lets new fans who werent around for the original tour enjoy those tracks.
there's certainly bands i personally prefer didnt do it, but that's the same thing as preferring certain songs on a setlist, which i have no control over so w/e.
it only bothers me when bands milk an album tour for literally years and basically accidentally admit it's their only good album. but then again in some cases maybe that's for the best cause some bands really should only be playing stuff from one album.
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 8:56:13 GMT -6
Bloc Party did Silent Alarm backwards, which worked well for that album, but is about the most deviation I'd really like. Yeah its wild how well this works, I can't think of another example of an album that builds so well backwards. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2019 8:57:08 GMT -6
oh man irving and i had some hot takes on that massive attack tour and how the jumbled setlist and weird covers kinda fucked up the general vibe of the show for everyone.
i cant remember who it was but some band was playing an album in reverse order at riot fest one year? was it bloc party? i feel like that might work if the singles are all on the A side.
fuck me i cant read.
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Post by Xamnam on Nov 20, 2019 8:57:36 GMT -6
Album sets have also definitely led me to appreciate songs I hadn't given full merit before.
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 8:57:57 GMT -6
I do wish more bands would do what Springsteen used to do and just drop an album by surprise one night. I know Death Cab did that last year w/ Transatlanticism at the Chicago Theatre.
I think the only time I've ever seen that happen is Foo Fighters playing Wasting Light front-to-back at Metro in 2011.
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 8:59:02 GMT -6
oh man irving and i had some hot takes on that massive attack tour and how the jumbled setlist and weird covers kinda fucked up the general vibe of the show for everyone. i cant remember who it was but some band was playing an album in reverse order at riot fest one year? was it bloc party? i feel like that might work if the singles are all on the A side.
fuck me i cant read. This, exactly. It just fucks with a vibe. Advertising an album show and then playing the album on shuffle is like advertising you're going to read a book, and then reading the chapters out of order. Yeah we all still got there but what the fuck. |
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Post by llamaoftime on Nov 20, 2019 8:59:47 GMT -6
also theres bands where I think I'd just prefer maybe like a "classics" set that focuses on old stuff and doesn't really have any of their new albums to an album set. theres bands where it'd be really fun to hear old stuff they don't usually play anymore, if I couldn't catch them on earlier tours.
I'm not talking about legacy bands that basically do this anyway
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Post by Deleted on Nov 20, 2019 9:00:05 GMT -6
I do wish more bands would do what Springsteen used to do and just drop an album by surprise one night. I know Death Cab did that last year w/ Transatlanticism at the Chicago Theatre. Pearl Jam doing No Code in Moline a few years ago outta nowhere was wild. even tho i didnt know the album very well at the time, that show made me really go back to afterwards and now i love it |
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 9:00:50 GMT -6
I do wish more bands would do what Springsteen used to do and just drop an album by surprise one night. I know Death Cab did that last year w/ Transatlanticism at the Chicago Theatre. Pearl Jam doing No Code in Moline a few years ago outta nowhere was wild. even tho i didnt know the album very well at the time, that show made me really go back to afterwards and now i love it That's RIGHT, I forgot they were doing it on that tour and everyone was waiting for a Vs show. edit: forgot it actually happened |
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Post by Tweet on Nov 20, 2019 9:01:46 GMT -6
I mean if the question is phrased like:
A band like The Who doing "Quadrophenia" in full, which is arguably their best album
vs.
A band like The National doing "High Violet" in full, which is arguably their 4th best on a good day
then the answer is pretty obvious, right?
I just wish we weren't being beat over the head with it so often at this point. Like Pitchfork's "Don't Look Back" series at the old school fests were amazing to read about (I wasn't there). Now it just seems like a shitty flavor of the moment trend like White Claw and Post Malone
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Post by Tweet on Nov 20, 2019 9:02:09 GMT -6
I do wish more bands would do what Springsteen used to do and just drop an album by surprise one night. I know Death Cab did that last year w/ Transatlanticism at the Chicago Theatre. Pearl Jam doing No Code in Moline a few years ago outta nowhere was wild. even tho i didnt know the album very well at the time, that show made me really go back to afterwards and now i love it See shit like this is cool |
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 9:03:27 GMT -6
I mean if the question is phrased like: A band like The Who doing "Quadrophenia" in full, which is arguably their best album vs. A band like The National doing "High Violet" in full, which is arguably their 4th best on a good day
then the answer is pretty obvious, right? I just wish we weren't being beat over the head with it so often at this point. Like Pitchfork's "Don't Look Back" series at the old school fests were amazing to read about (I wasn't there). Now it just seems like a shitty flavor of the moment trend like White Claw and Post Malone If you ask yourself if The National have previously played their "3 best albums" live (I don't even know what yours are, but they've played album sets here and there), doesn't the answer become less obvious? Them playing a different full album is better than them repeating one they know just slays. |
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Post by llamaoftime on Nov 20, 2019 9:03:54 GMT -6
I do wish more bands would do what Springsteen used to do and just drop an album by surprise one night. I know Death Cab did that last year w/ Transatlanticism at the Chicago Theatre. I think the only time I've ever seen that happen is Foo Fighters playing Wasting Light front-to-back at Metro in 2011. Arcade Fire did Funeral randomly unannounced in LA last year. Hearing that unannounced and realizing they are doing it while it's happening would have been a lot more exciting to me than just them announcing a tour, since I've seen most of those songs already anyway. |
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Post by Tweet on Nov 20, 2019 9:04:48 GMT -6
I mean if the question is phrased like: A band like The Who doing "Quadrophenia" in full, which is arguably their best album vs. A band like The National doing "High Violet" in full, which is arguably their 4th best on a good day
then the answer is pretty obvious, right? I just wish we weren't being beat over the head with it so often at this point. Like Pitchfork's "Don't Look Back" series at the old school fests were amazing to read about (I wasn't there). Now it just seems like a shitty flavor of the moment trend like White Claw and Post Malone If you ask yourself if The National have previously played their "3 best albums" live (I don't even know what yours are, but they've played album sets here and there), doesn't the answer become less obvious? Them playing a different full album is better than them repeating one they know just slays. No not really |
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Post by venom on Nov 20, 2019 9:04:58 GMT -6
Going to a bunch of these in quick succession recently made me look back and realize I usually prefer when a band just does a mix of their catalogue even if that means I don't love every individual song as much. More spontaneity, more excitement when they bust out a song you love, and less retroactively forcing a recorded thing to fit a live setting. There are exceptions, of course. this is basically where i stand. i like hearing the deep cuts and feeling the nostalgia that comes with it. but some albums really do not need to be played live and especially not in order. take, for instance, a band that may take a couple songs to get warmed up and who's usually at their prime for the back half of a set. generally, the better songs are at the beginning of an album and so they sleepwalk through a couple bangers but are revved for the sleepy ones at the end. you'd think bands would know this about themselves and plan accordingly. i'm sure some do. |
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Post by Tweet on Nov 20, 2019 9:05:17 GMT -6
Another good album in full set that was unannounced: Violent Femmes doing their first in full at their first show back at Coachella 2013
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Post by chvrchbarrel on Nov 20, 2019 9:06:33 GMT -6
John Mayer had done Continuum in full just a few nights before our show in KC, unannounced - he took an intermission between sets and live streamed writing the setlist for set 2 backstage. Thought that was cool (i know we don't care about john mayer)
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Post by Xamnam on Nov 20, 2019 9:10:08 GMT -6
I mean if the question is phrased like: A band like The Who doing "Quadrophenia" in full, which is arguably their best album vs. A band like The National doing "High Violet" in full, which is arguably their 4th best on a good dayI mean, it's more interesting if you strike the flawed premise. |
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