Let's talk touring: concerts shouldn't be made-to-order
Music industry musings on fan behavior
Last month, 20-year-old Australian model Madison Blackband went viral. Her emotional reaction to hearing Taylor Swift perform “exile” at a Sydney stop on the Eras Tour – loudly sobbing in her friends’ arms, attracting the attention of sympathetic bystanders – quickly gained TikTok traction.
Not typically on Swift’s setlist, deeper cuts like “exile” are usually saved for the “surprise song” segment of her show. “Surprise songs” tend to be tunes that Swift rarely performs, which are then rarely repeated at later tour dates.
But Blackband wasn’t actually watching Swift perform; Blackband and her friends had instead been listening to the show, hanging out on the ground outside of the stadium as Swift played. Blackband’s tears ricocheted into her friend’s lap because, as she admitted to Rolling Stone, she had “lost this song as a surprise song” for a future show she would actually attend.
Setlist-oriented thinking has taken over live music discussion, and thus, the performer-to-audience relationship. And it’s very much antithetical to what makes live music so dynamic.
Singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine took to Instagram a few weeks back to answer questions about her upcoming album Older and its accompanying tour. McAlpine’s public profile rose considerably last year, as her song “ceilings” saw viral fame and even charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Her fans were, understandably, curious about how her breakthrough hit and its album (both released in 2022) would be represented on the setlist for the upcoming Older tour.
“If you only know ‘ceilings’ and don’t care about any of my other songs, probably don’t come [to the Older tour],” McAlpine said. “It probably won’t be the show for you. [But] if you’re open to learning more about my music, then totally come.”
It’s not often that an artist directly asks concertgoers who only care for their most popular anthems to stay home. Musicians resenting their biggest hits is a tale as old as time, as is the tale of fans wishing they’d heard more of their favorite tracks at shows.
But touring has become far and away the moneymaker for musicians in the streaming era – and while McAlpine needed no help selling out the Older tour, I found it fascinating to watch an artist try and curate their crowd.
I think she’s right – if you’re interested in learning more about a singer and their music (and, of course, you’re fine with crowds), you should want to see their live shows. This is what concerts are for; this is what makes them special.
It’s not McAlpine’s job to cater to what her audience wants, nor is that the job of any touring musician. This may sound odd at first, given that it’s often fans’ money that pays artists’ bills. But showing up and playing a concert is, ultimately, a work day.
A singer may be having the time of their life on stage – they might also loathe touring and just want to play their tunes and get out of town. But it’s work. And they probably don’t want their work day to completely revolve around something they created 10 years ago; I wouldn’t want my work day as a 26-year-old to include repeated recitations of the essays I wrote to get into college.
If you’re a big enough fan of an artist to spend your hard-earned cash on entry to their live show, have a little compassion – you should be interested in whatever the artist has to offer. Live music is not a made-to-order vending machine for your ideal night out.
When musicians play around and do what they want, magic is made; it puts their talent firmly in the spotlight. I’ve been able to watch Faye Webster rock out guitar covers of some of my favorite Nintendo tracks from my childhood. I’ve had the pleasure of singing along with Rina Sawayama as she covers Brandi Carlile.
Live performance also opens the door for musicians to premiere a new vision for their work. I’ve seen Julien Baker add mind-blowing harmony “Ringside.” I’ve seen Soccer Mommy completely demolish an extended guitar-heavy outro to their 2020 hit “crawling in my skin.”
American band Big Thief drew ire last summer for daring to put out a studio recording of “Vampire Empire” that differed from previous live performances. In response, they astutely asserted that their “songs are vessels for the expressions of our present selves, and not highly manicured concoctions polished to be consumed based on demand.”
I’ve had the pleasurable privilege of seeing artists premiere music that’s months, even years out from public release – including McAlpine herself, who debuted her upcoming track “Movie Star” at All Things Go last year, a decision she told our Maryland crowd was pretty impromptu, off-the-cuff.
These moments were all cool, great, awesome, any applicable positive adjective you could throw behind something impressive and exciting. It’s a privilege to be in the room while the magic happens. And it’s this sort of spirit that drives the novelty behind Swift’s “surprise songs” in the first place – as of late, she’s been debuting new mashups of her back catalog, helping to make her 2024 tour dates feel worth the wait for her fans around the world.
I think it’s fine to be a little dismayed that a band didn’t play your favorites at a concert you attended, and I can’t pretend I don’t get excited when the opening notes of my most-listened-to tracks blast through venue speakers.
It’s absolutely okay to be frustrated if those crowd pleasers are missing from a setlist – my friends and I would have been crushed if Beyoncé had skipped “Crazy in Love” at the Renaissance World Tour. But there’s usually more to be gleaned from a performance. If your perspective on live music revolves entirely around whether or not you heard a hit single, YouTube is free to use.
Music fans should give their favorite artists room to breathe on stage. Performers shouldn’t feel pressure to appease the audience – that way, instead of hustling to portray a prior iteration of who they were, musicians can show up to work as themselves.