Are fans more demanding, did concert-expectations increase or are singers lazier?

[Ayesha Erotica 1,720]

Hi guys,

I have been talking to a friend recently and somehow we talked about music and then he told me about his concert experience of a band called Within Temptation. He said he was disappointed because two songs that he liked were not played, and he therefore wrote the band a negative review on the Internet.

I responded by saying that "they should have played their hit songs for their fans, as they represent the band and the fans want it, and if they don't, something is missing" and showed my understanding for his situation.

And then he told me that this were neither hit songs nor single releases, just two songs that he liked that he thinks should have been played.  And then I had no more understanding because I think non-singles/hit songs cannot be expected and after some time I felt that this is thread-worthy on Gagadaily and needs discussion. And well, here we are now.

This is a topic to discuss whether music stars have gotten lazier, quality decreased or whether fan expectation towards cocncert have unjustifiably increased?

Do you think fans demand too much or do you think singers (but also stage experience in general) deliver not enough?

On the one hand, ticket prices have increased massively - could this be a reason why also expectations increased in ways that are too high? On the other hand, do you think that, 20 years ago, people were just as disppointed as today, just they didn't write their opinion on the Internet and nobody knew except their circle of friends?

Lemme know your opinion!

I personally think that expectations somehow increased and that it is harder to please fans these days.

[Bonkers 29,571]

I think expectations ruin life

[JINNOCIDE 3,820]

Imagine writing a negative review because the band that you like didn't play two non-single songs

Honestly, is he a fan or hater? 

 

OT: Going without expections is the best way to go. With this, you can judge the show based on what you saw.

When you expect things you start to fanfic and putting ideas that are only on your mind, ideas that you don't even know if are doable.

Don't get me wrong tho, being excited about a show is fine.

[Juanlittlem 45,757]

Had to look up who they were 'cause I don't know them and just saw that they have multiple albums so it makes sense them skipping two songs, I guess you can't fit 3 whole albums in a tour. 

Also I do think we're getting harsher and expect more because we've seen now a lot of shows and lots of innovation and we keep wanting more, and considering tickets get more expensive it would make sense for the shows to have higher tech/things that surprise the audience. 

[JINNOCIDE 3,820]

I had thought about this for a while too.

Like, singers have such a production level nowadays. They have to dance, sing, present a concept.

But what about singers who just want to sing? Is it hard for them to keep up?

Does it impact on their incomes?

[Zombiecat 16,680]

a bad review because 2 songs he likes didn't get played is embarassing 

That'd be like me writing a bad review of TCB because she didn't play Paparazzi or Alejandro which are my faves  

[phantasmas 10,581]

yall still read/write reviews? 

[Bronco 11,468]

I don't think fans are more or less demanding than they used to be. The issue is the internet makes stan culture so much more pervasive than it has ever been. 

There's always been crazy fans, angry fans, toxic fans, stalkers, fake fans, half fans, fans who only know the singles etc. But it used to be the only time they came in large groups was at a concert lol Now the 24/7 fans can make it everyone elses business and have a far more 'direct' link to the artist via social media. 

[Schwerk 7,246]

In general, maybe because of the drastic price increases, people always seem to expect some type of greatest hits tour. When in fact its common for artists to tour a recent album. If they play old hits, it's a nice bonus. Concert culture in The Netherlands is known for the 'Dutch disease', people loudly talking and drinking during a concert and not paying attention. It's really annoying. It's like everyone is only thinking about themselves because 'I paid a lot of money for this ticket, so I can do what I please'. 

In this particular case I'm quite baffled. I don't know if your friend has been to many concerts? If he had specific wishes for the setlist, next time he should check fansites or setlist.fm for the setlist of the current tour and sell his ticket if it's not to his liking. Within Temptation has been around for almost 30 years and toured like 10 times. They're also doing festivals atm, which is not like a regular tour, setlists are often shorter. Very selfish and naive to expect them to cater to every fan.

 

[Ayesha Erotica 1,720]

9 hours ago, JINNOCIDE said:

But what about singers who just want to sing? Is it hard for them to keep up?

Possibly concerts are approaching the levels of talent shows à la Britains Got Talent, where people want to see more extreme shows, more outfit changes, more sensational stuff, more feelings, more adventure. This is a high burden for an artist to master. 25 years ago, singers usually had 1 costume outfit for the entire show, these days I hear of artists that change them multiple times. I think for just voice-singers without the pop extravaganza it has gotten harder.

8 hours ago, phantasmas said:

yall still read/write reviews? 

when an artist will perform in a city far yet not very far away, and I like him/her very much (but not totally love them), I do read reviews and base my judgement on them as going there takes time+money and cannot invest without "being sure what to get". I'm aware reviews are subjective, I read the details and explanations why sth wasnt great, if there are numerous bad reviews, it has an influence on my decision whether to attend a concert or not.

I prefer to write Gagadaily posts rather than writing reviews

[phantasmas 10,581]

1 hour ago, LoliLux said:

Possibly concerts are approaching the levels of talent shows à la Britains Got Talent, where people want to see more extreme shows, more outfit changes, more sensational stuff, more feelings, more adventure. This is a high burden for an artist to master. 25 years ago, singers usually had 1 costume outfit for the entire show, these days I hear of artists that change them multiple times. I think for just voice-singers without the pop extravaganza it has gotten harder.

when an artist will perform in a city far yet not very far away, and I like him/her very much (but not totally love them), I do read reviews and base my judgement on them as going there takes time+money and cannot invest without "being sure what to get". I'm aware reviews are subjective, I read the details and explanations why sth wasnt great, if there are numerous bad reviews, it has an influence on my decision whether to attend a concert or not.

I prefer to write Gagadaily posts rather than writing reviews

understandable if its ur first time out and u wanna know what ur money was worth and I also understand why people read/write reviews in the first place pero like that is sooo 15 years ago  like Fergie said, thats so 2000 & LATE 

and on a personal note, i dont trust any review that wasnt posted about 3 or less months ago because who really cares what happened 5+ years ago  and if ur that influenced by ppl like, why even go out 

[Werewoof 2,475]

13 hours ago, Bonkers said:

I think expectations ruin life

I am mary Jane Holland right now and this has shaken me

[monstertoronto 10,193]

Your friend sounds like the definition of entitled. Imagine writing off a concert because they didn’t play your personal two fave deep cuts. That’s absurd. 

[StrawberryBlond 14,865]

Your friend should realise that there are always a theme surrounding a tour's setlist. It's a way to ensure that the same setlist doesn't happen every tour. If you make a very happy pop album that sounds like summer, you'd also pull up old songs that also have the same vibe, if you're doing an heavily acoustic album, you'd bring back old acoustic songs and so on and so forth. That, in addition to having to provide the known hits and it means that over time, there's a lower likelihood that your random fave songs won't get played. Personally, I feel fan's demands are odd in that they seem to always want a hit-packed setlist most of the time regardless of how many albums the artist has or where they are in their career. As a big Lana fan, if there's one thing that lets me down regarding her, it's that her tour setlists are always so random, hardly ever predominantly focused on her current album's songs and have far too many old hits and not paying enough attention to more recent hits. I don't know if it's all her doing or it's fan demand for old hits. If you currently have an album out, that's what the majority of your setlist should involve, not a random collection of songs from albums gone by. What if most of the audience don't like those songs? That's why they didn't go to your last tour, but they're going to this one, because they like this current album. You shouldn't have a majority hits setlist unless it's a literal greatest hits tour or your an older 'heritage' act who can't sell new albums anymore and rely on old hits to pull in money.

This reminds me of the time that Kendall Jenner tweeted before Rihanna's tour that she'll be so disappointed if she doesn't sing Complicated and Rihanna simply replied with "then don't come." 

[PartySick 160,361]

Yes