killers are not yet big enough to be the answer. at least part of the reason they're not (and the difficulty of this question) is due to the fact they released their first album only 5 years ago. takes time to build up a following that can support a stadium tour, even before the lol internet.
― caek, Monday, 6 July 2009 00:22 (fourteen years ago) link
So we are differentiating between "bands" and "singers", right? Because Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers can certainly sell out stadium after stadium.
i guess i meant people who write their own music and aren't manufactured by corporations.
― Mike Crandle, Financial Analyst, Bear Stearns, New York, NY 10185 (res), Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:17 PM (7 minutes ago)
wait for geir to log on
― unbandictionary (k3vin k.), Monday, 6 July 2009 00:26 (fourteen years ago) link
― caek, Sunday, July 5, 2009 7:22 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
OTM. Does anyone have dates on when Springsteen/U2/Van Halen/Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd a) released their debut, b) started receiving decent airplay, c) began selling out stadiums?
― "lol" as frivolity (Stevie D), Monday, 6 July 2009 00:29 (fourteen years ago) link
It happened way faster for Zeppelin than for those others. Van Halen might be second in line. Springsteen, U2, and Floyd all had long, slow builds...
― Nate Carson, Monday, 6 July 2009 00:34 (fourteen years ago) link
Anyway, fuck seeing live music in a stadium anyway. Is this really a problem?
Coldplay is the only band to emerge in the 2000s that can consistently sell out 20,000 seat arenas, let alone 50,000 seat stadiums. Kings of Leon might get there too, but not yet.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 6 July 2009 00:39 (fourteen years ago) link
kings of leon? really? are they on the verge of hugeness? just an ipod commercial away?
― keythkeythkeyth, Monday, 6 July 2009 00:41 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't give a shit about that; i see the stadium as a proxy for popularity, and i was wondering about whether it's possible for a band to get that big again, due to shifts in music distribution, marketing, and segmentation of audiences.
― Mike Crandle, Financial Analyst, Bear Stearns, New York, NY 10185 (res), Monday, 6 July 2009 00:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Wait wait wait, we're totally forgetting country acts though. Can't Kenny Chesney and shit sell out stadiums?
― "lol" as frivolity (Stevie D), Monday, 6 July 2009 00:56 (fourteen years ago) link
for the last fucking time dude, the thread is about rock bands.
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 00:58 (fourteen years ago) link
― keythkeythkeyth
i don't know the situation elsewhere but Kings of Leon are huuuuuuuuuuuuge in Britain.
― the shock will be coupled with the need to dance (jim), Monday, 6 July 2009 01:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Kenny Chesney and shit
new genre name for "country"
― m coleman, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:01 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.livenation.com/venue/susquehanna-bank-center-tickets
Nickelback, Toby Keith, Lil Wayne
― "lol" as frivolity (Stevie D), Monday, 6 July 2009 01:01 (fourteen years ago) link
i thought Killers would be at this point by now but they seem to have drifted off slightly, doubt Kings of Leon will do any better even if that single is pretty hot atm
― sonderangerbot, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:02 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3672448/Stadium-rock-this-summers-big-noise.html
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:04 (fourteen years ago) link
i guess i meant people who write their own music and aren't manufactured by corporations
P.S. in context, what country is now--in sound, commercialization, and most importantly popularity--in comparison with what country was when Springsteen and U2 gained popularity are completely different, and I'd argue that it would be arbitrary to exclude country from "rock music"
― "lol" as frivolity (Stevie D), Monday, 6 July 2009 01:04 (fourteen years ago) link
shania's ramones t-shirt to thread.
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, people are tired of me pointing this out, but if the Eagles, Mellencamp, Petty, Bon Jovi, etc count as rock music, there's no logical reason Toby Keith and Kenny Chesney (and Taylor Swift, for that matter) shouldn't. They even have lots of the same fans.
I'd say Keith and Chesney might've emerged too early, though; if they count, why not Dave Matthews.
Taylor Swift definitely fits "people who write their own music and aren't manufactured by corporations."
If these aren't "bands" enough, then...Rascal Flatts.
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:21 (fourteen years ago) link
Pretty dumb to equate "rock bands" with "people who write their own music," though, since lots of fairly inarguable rock bands haven't generally done that, both in the Dianne Warren and "Louie Louie" eras.
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:23 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't know the situation elsewhere but Kings of Leon are huuuuuuuuuuuuge in Britain
Situation in the States: Not huge. Not even close.
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:24 (fourteen years ago) link
pretty big though dude, that stuff's all over mainstream rock radio
― pretzel walrus, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:27 (fourteen years ago) link
not the states, but Kings of Leon had to add an extra show at GM Place in Vancouver
― If Snotboogie always stole the money, why'd you let him play? (Dr. Superman), Monday, 6 July 2009 01:30 (fourteen years ago) link
are there any big bands from the post-Beatles era that could fill a USO?
― worm? lol (J0hn D.), Monday, 6 July 2009 01:32 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.mattendahl.com/jco/jco_images/clifford2.jpg
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:35 (fourteen years ago) link
A couple other possibilites, judging from a random year-end boxscore top-grossing-tour chart I just looked at:
-- Trans-Siberian Orchestra (not sure when they started touring, though)-- Mana (Mexican pop-rock, fwiw)-- John Mayer (not a "band", right, but probably as "rock" as say Clapton used to be sometimes)
I'm assuming Justin Timberlake doesn't count here as a "rock band."
Suppose it's possible Trans-Siberian Orch and Mana pile up all those tour dollars at smaller venues, though that'd be pretty impressive if they do.
Nickelback and Dave Matthews Band way up there, too; guess it depends on when you think they're too old.
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:38 (fourteen years ago) link
Kings Of Leon 2009 North American tour; I don't have the energy to figure out how many of these are in actual stadiums:
http://www.ticketsnow.com/kings-of-leon-tickets/?GCID=S16598x002-jl_kol&keyword=kings%20of%20leon%20tour%20tickets&s_kwcid=kings%20of%20leon%20tour%20tickets|2619228487
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:49 (fourteen years ago) link
Also not sure how many of those they're headlining - - They toured with U2 four years ago, right? Does look like they're playing a number of secondary, maybe even tertiary, markets. Honestly think their rep as a huge festival draw in the UK is still something they're looking to follow up at home, so far unsuccessfully.
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 01:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Kings Of Leon can't even headline All Points West, stfu Britain
― making plans for nagl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 6 July 2009 02:13 (fourteen years ago) link
Kings of Leon are on the verge in the US, though. One more album in the direction of the last two and they'll be everywhere all the time.
The Killers blew it by making a totally shitty third album.
I just hope some insufferable garbage band like 3OH!3 doesn't blow up and get megahuge.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 6 July 2009 02:19 (fourteen years ago) link
i thought the consensus on the Killers was they blew it by making a totally shitty second album (I like the Sam's Town singles better than the singles from the last one, I'm just saying)
― okay fat ass rooster (some dude), Monday, 6 July 2009 02:21 (fourteen years ago) link
stuff's all over mainstream rock radio
So are lots of other young bands. Pretty sure Saving Abel aren't exactly headlining stadia yet, either.
And how about Hinder? Puddle of Mudd?? (I'm totally clueless about that kind of clap, myself.)
Also not sure how 3Oh!3 are any less sufferable than Kings Of Leon, to be honest, but that's just me.
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 02:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh, what about Fall Out Boy? Or My Chemical Romance?
― the stick stickly from the hilarious 'attack attack' band (The Reverend), Monday, 6 July 2009 02:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I seem to remember Kings Of Leon playing Madison Square Garden with My Morning Jacket (which, seriously, how could people tell when one band left the stage and the other one came on?). I doubt that was an arena-sized tour in the rest of the country, though; maybe big venues on both coasts and theaters in between.
Hinder opened for Motley Crue (second band of three, I think) when I saw 'em earlier this year. They're not stadium sized yet and I doubt they ever will be. They're too faceless.
There's a degree of charisma lacking from almost every semi-biggish rock band out there right now. There are almost no larger-than-life personalities, and that's what it takes to get stadium-sized, distribution and marketing aside - you've gotta seem like you're there already inside your head, so the potential listener feels...not late to the party exactly, but like they're getting in on something good. Josh Todd is not David Lee Roth or Steven Tyler, is a shorthand way of putting it. When you've got an entire generation of boring fucking beardos in bands, nobody sells big.
Acts I could sort of see maybe getting huge: My Chemical Romance (xpost with the Rev - they were close on this last go-round, weren't they?), Rob Thomas (surprisingly big already in a low-key sort of way).
― unperson, Monday, 6 July 2009 02:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, Thomas occurred to me, too; figured he was out of the time window, though, like Nickelback and Matthews. What size venues did Matchbox 20 play?
― xhuxk, Monday, 6 July 2009 02:48 (fourteen years ago) link
there are probably some country acts that can fill stadia in the U.S., but i think at least part of the question is not just "are there any new bands big enough to fill my local stadium", but "when was the last act with the worldwide profile to tour stadia in japan and europe and australia and the u.s.". the worldwide thing is what is special about the likes of U2 and Springsteen (mentioned in the question) compared to, say Garth Brooks.
even if we set the bar lower and say "U.S/Canada + UK", it's difficult to think of a band post-2000, never mind post-iPod that could do that, other than Coldplay. like i say, at most of this is not some significant change brought about by the internet but more to the fact that 2003 or whenever just wasn't that long ago. but trying to think of acts with deep but culturally narrow appeal is missing the point imo.
― caek, Monday, 6 July 2009 03:07 (fourteen years ago) link
mainstream country can't play telephone boxes outside the u.s. and kings of leon and the killers can't play stadia in the uk, never mind the u.s. so we can forget those.
― caek, Monday, 6 July 2009 03:08 (fourteen years ago) link
btw yall are wrong about kings of leon - their upcoming tour is all arenas/stadiums and they are charging $80 for general admission im pretty sure that they are going to sell
― a poppy seed NAGL (J0rdan S.), Monday, 6 July 2009 03:21 (fourteen years ago) link
arenas or stadiums?
― caek, Monday, 6 July 2009 03:22 (fourteen years ago) link
who in the US tours stadiums
― a poppy seed NAGL (J0rdan S.), Monday, 6 July 2009 03:24 (fourteen years ago) link
that's what we're trying to find out.
― ian, Monday, 6 July 2009 03:25 (fourteen years ago) link
im saying - is touring stadiums even a practice? i know that like sometimes billy joel or bruce or dmb will play shea or fenway but.. that just doesn't happen in the US anymore, and i dont think it's cuz there aren't bands that can fill stadiums, they just play arenas
and yes the jonas brothers are a good answer
― a poppy seed NAGL (J0rdan S.), Monday, 6 July 2009 03:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I seem to remember Kings Of Leon playing Madison Square Garden with My Morning Jacket (which, seriously, how could people tell when one band left the stage and the other one came on?).
not to defend either of these guys, but you obviously haven't heard much from either band then. MMJ is infinitely more talented than KoL, even if they don't always show it.
― the sideburns are album-specific (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 6 July 2009 04:17 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't have the energy to figure out how many of these are in actual stadiums
the art of pretend lethargy
― velko, Monday, 6 July 2009 04:28 (fourteen years ago) link
I've heard several songs by KOL, none of which I could ID or tell apart under duress. Whichever ones they've made videos for. I've quite possibly heard more by MMJ because when I last had a day job, many of my officemates worshipped them and would crank them on the communal stereo. But they'd also play KOL, which I think is a big part of why they blur together in my head.
― unperson, Monday, 6 July 2009 04:28 (fourteen years ago) link
brokencyde
― (*゚ー゚)θ L(。・_・) °~ヾ(・ε・ *) (Steve Shasta), Monday, 6 July 2009 06:37 (fourteen years ago) link
The Strokes.
― makeitpop, Monday, 6 July 2009 09:32 (fourteen years ago) link
go team
― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Monday, 6 July 2009 09:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah but has digital music even overcome physical music sales-wise yet? If we're discounting Napster/Kazaa eras we may as well discount torrents as well. I think we've either not yet hit that paradigm shift or we're too close to it to be able to be objective about when it happened.
At any rate its silly to set the split to 5-6 years ago and give musicians that much time to establish a stadium-level following, but exclude 'manufactured' bands!
― Adam Bruneau, Monday, 6 July 2009 11:03 (fourteen years ago) link
tokyo hotel !
― AleXTC, Monday, 6 July 2009 11:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Here's who's playing upcoming shows at the biggest venues in the Chicago area (one stadium, two amphitheaters, two arenas):
SOLDIER FIELD (capacity: 61,500):U2
ALPINE VALLEY (40,000):Dave Matthews BandColdplayJimmy Buffett
FIRST MIDWEST BANK AMPHITHEATER (28,000):No Doubt w/ParamoreKid Rock/Lynyrd SkynyrdDef Leppard w/Poison and Cheap TrickCrue Fest 2Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem FestivalVans Warped TourBrad Paisley w/Dierks Bentley and Jimmy WayneBlink-182 w/Fall Out BoyNickelback w/Hinder, Papa Roach, and Saving AbelAerosmith w/ZZ TopCreedToby Keith w/Trace AdkinsDave Matthews Band
UNITED CENTER (23,500)Green DayBeyonceAC/DCPearl JamMiley Cyrus
ALLSTATE ARENA (18,500)Jonas BrothersDemi LovatoMarco Antonio Solis/Pepe AguilarAmerican Idols Live!Ricardo ArjonaBritney SpearsWisin y YandelPinkTaylor SwiftVicente Fernandez
― sad-ass Gen Y fantasist (jaymc), Monday, 6 July 2009 13:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Any new thoughts on this?
― Vanilla Douche (res), Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:01 (fourteen years ago) link
my morning jacket.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:03 (fourteen years ago) link
they bridge the divide between jam band fans; arena rock fans; and indie fans.
white stripes
― hope this helps (Granny Dainger), Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:12 (fourteen years ago) link
The only band I've seen play in the past three years was to a sold-out stadium and the band was Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Tickets were a Christmas present from a friend. I will make this tale even dorkier by telling you that I felt like I was watching...the Gavinners.
http://th09.deviantart.net/fs44/300W/i/2009/129/f/5/Klavier_Gavin__ROCK_GOD_by_Kira759.jpg
― This is four-dimensional art; the 4th dimension is incredibly powerful. (Abbott), Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:18 (fourteen years ago) link
These are the kinds of bands you get when you live in a retirement community w/less than 90,ooo people.
Kings of Leon
― ksh, Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:20 (fourteen years ago) link
molly hatchet.
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:21 (fourteen years ago) link
lol maybe this poll was a harbinger of huegness to come: R WE Human or are we SEX ON FIRE?
― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:40 (fourteen years ago) link
THIS SEX IS ON FIRE
― Johnny Fever, Friday, February 6, 2009 8:24 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark
― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Pink sold out 12 shows or some ridic amount in a stadium in Melbourne, not sure if you'd count her as a "rock" act but I dont see why not.
― Eyjafjallalalalalatrolololol (Trayce), Sunday, 2 May 2010 23:54 (fourteen years ago) link
what about, like, Death Cab?
― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 00:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Interpol
― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 00:21 (fourteen years ago) link
both restricted to large theatre status, along w/ The Shins, Modest Mouse & other OC-era kinda-big indie bands.
― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Monday, 3 May 2010 00:26 (fourteen years ago) link
Stadiums? I doubt it.
xpost re interpol
― Eyjafjallalalalalatrolololol (Trayce), Monday, 3 May 2010 00:27 (fourteen years ago) link
in most US cities, at least
― in movie 2001 resurrect thread on planet jupiter (Pillbox), Monday, 3 May 2010 00:27 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, fair enough
― ksh, Monday, 3 May 2010 00:31 (fourteen years ago) link
I think this has more to do with the music press than with digital downloading. The press doesn't give bands the time to develop, they are constanctly on the lookout for the "next big thing", meaning debut albums, and then tend to tear them down already by the time of the 2nd or 3rd album. And it is very rare for a band with 1-2 albums behind them to be able to fill stadiums (even though I guess Coldplay did)
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Monday, 3 May 2010 01:25 (fourteen years ago) link
it is very rare for a band with 1-2 albums behind them to be able to fill stadiums
That is the exact opposite of America. Here it's very rare for a band to fill a stadium without being around for 1-2 decades.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 3 May 2010 01:33 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah geir, like the music press hyping up bands, dropping them, hyping up newer bands has only happened in the internet age..
― Dastardly & Müttley Crüe (Herman G. Neuname), Monday, 3 May 2010 01:37 (fourteen years ago) link
But it wasn't always like this. I think in the 60s through the 90s, bands could do this without being around for very long.
― Vanilla Douche (res), Monday, 3 May 2010 02:57 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah, thiking of gnr at the kingdome (50k+), being popular less than 5 years
― cheap phentermine (jergins), Monday, 3 May 2010 02:59 (fourteen years ago) link
It happens to a larger and larger degree. Surely didn't happen a lot in the 60s and 70s, when many of the still stadium filling dinosaur acts were slowly building their careers.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Monday, 3 May 2010 09:54 (fourteen years ago) link
I think in the 60s through the 90s, bands could do this without being around for very long.
Many of the biggest bands of the early 70s were so-called "supergroups" consisting of members who were already partly famous from other bands. Making it easier for them to establish a name quickly.
― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Monday, 3 May 2010 09:55 (fourteen years ago) link