During last year?s US tour a lot of people were on the forums saying they would like a more varied setlist and that they were fed up with DSOTM being the first half of every Aussies show.
Now we?ve got three albums being played in rotation, there are dissenting voices from the masses that they don?t like Animals. ?Mediocre? and ?tedious? are two adjectives that have been used to describe it on the other channel this morning, and from what I hear, the audience generally was pretty flat during the first half last night in Newcastle.
This is a difficult career point for the band. Their committed and enthusiastic supporters all want to hear stuff that doesn?t often get an airing, but there aren?t enough of us to fill the size of venue that they now play. To support the size of the show and pay for the touring entourage they have to sell loads of tickets, so that probably means ?best of? shows are all we are going to get in future. That wouldn't sustain the band's interest either, so it could signpost the end of the whole thing unless it was seen by them as a purely commercial venture.
Perhaps a compromise would be to do specialist shows at the smaller venues like Leicester and Norwich and publish the setlists in advance so people would know what they were getting and only the hardcore would turn up. I?m sure there are enough of us who would travel to get Animals, Echoes, etc that venues of that size would be filled. The large venues could feature the mainstream stuff to keep the masses happy and the band financially viable.
