Continuing yesterday's post

Has live music been affected by the "I don't need to pay for anything because I have the internet to keep me warm" thing that I discussed last week?

I just feel like people are apathetic to everything, because they are surrounded by so much stuff, that it's really hard to truly care about anything, because something better comes along the next week to take their affection away.

I remember the sense of mystery that used to go into trying to find out when my favorite band was going on tour. There were no websites to tell me. No blogs. No Twitter. It was just AWESOME when you heard that ad on the radio, or found that date in Metro Times. Now, you know when your favorite bands had stir-fry for lunch. It takes some of the mystique out of it.

I guess I say this because tonight, Thursday, one of the most influential and important bands of this past ten years, just played tonight for a semi-enthusiastic crowd of about 350 (after half the crowd left after Bring Me The Horizon, which might be the suckiest band I've seen on such a huge stage in a long time). Don't get me wrong, there were Thursday fans there. But I think this band has become irrelevant because there's a ton of other bands that now sound a lot like them, and their political thing is kind of buried. And since they toured with bands like BMTH and Pierce the Veil, the politically-conscious kids that dig this band decided that it wasn't worth the $21.50 ticket price to sit through this shit-fest to get to Thursday.

I don't know man. Maybe it was just a bad bill. I just don't see anyone truly get excited for anything, because there's no anticipation anymore. You can get anything you want, as soon as you want it, on the internet, which kills that buzz that used to build about a new record, a new tour, or any sort of announcement. And that buzz wears out faster, too.

I guess I'm getting old and the world is spinning too fast. I just feel like there should be 800 people out there (at least enough to sell out St. Andrews Hall) that would dig Thursday enough to come be a part of what happened tonight.

Three questions about concerts for this summer:

1. Will Blink 182/Weezer (if it happens) sell out at DTE or the Palace (20,000 kids)?
2. Will No Doubt/Paramore sell out the Palace?
3. Will Warped Tour numbers suffer because of the reduction in stages (and the "scene" lineup)?

I'm intrigued to see if these tours, the hottest of the summer for the 15-30 year olds, will do the numbers they certainly would have done five years ago.